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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Ravangames on June 04, 2010, 07:52:35 PM
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Working up the creation of Detroit... would like feedback/suggestions.
"Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus"
(Latin for, "We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes)
Brainstorming...
Possible Theme/Threats
Urban Sprawl?
Political Problems?
Casinos?
Crime Activity?
Music?
Sports?
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Um...how does this belong in the Spoiler Quarantine Zone? I'm just curious.
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Um...how does this belong in the Spoiler Quarantine Zone? I'm just curious.
Not sure really, just thought to put it here just in case anything pops up.... in hindsight.. that probably wont happen.... nothing happened in Detroit.
Just tired I guess.
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Detroit would make the most excellent Black Court stronghold (if you can get past the political incorrectness issues considering the racial make-up of the area).
Would also be nearly as good for Red Court.
Lots of 18th/19th century architecture. TONS of half standing, decrepit buildings.
Political issues: racial tension, corruption in the city government, whites from the suburbs fear to go into the city. Financially affluent county to the north with an almost equally corrupt commissioner. Lots of possibilities there.
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I was more leaning to a WCV being one of the major powers in the city... just not Raith... Malvora and/or Skavis... they could easily be enjoying the chaos in Detroit...
My hardest hurdle has been trying to figure out who is running the casinos.... well that and the good NPCs...
Casinos:
Mafia...
RCV?
Vanilla?
I am going to play out the racial tension (Burbs vs. Detroit) being Summer vs Winter...
Good Guys:
Religious group in the know.
small occult community (John King Book Store)
a minor talent here and there (psychic in Ferndale)
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Can I get a mod to move this thread over to DFRPG please.
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All of the casinos in Detroit have to have a native American ownsership component, IIRC.
If you're going with WCV - Malvora or Skavis is better. Despair is rampant in the inner city.
Raith would likely live in St.Clair Shores or West Bloomfield. More likely WB, because it's a younger, sexier element there. SCC is old money.
Ferndale has gone more gay chic than psychic. (no play on spelling intended) Royal Oak is more friendly to psychics and occult bookstores (though John King is an excellent choice for the inner city powerhouse bookstore.)
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Actually only the Greektown Casino is Indian Owned...
MotorCity is owned by Ilitch (the largest single owned casino in the US... by a woman even)
and
MGM is owned by MGM Mirage company (majority) and about 10 Detroit Partners....
...
Royal Oak for Occult contacts.. excellent thanks!
Does WB have any cool clubs?
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Came here to start this thread and here it is already!
Admittedly my input on Detroit is largely Vancouver Method as it's on the other side of the state from me but I'd think that Urban Decay, Poverty, and possibly Corruption would be strong themes in modern Detroit.
As for who's behind the casinos . . . Skavis. Nothing generates despair like losing your house due to gambling debts. Or, since as someone else pointed out the Native Americans run the casinos, the Skavis could have the market cornered on bookies and loan sharks. Possibly a recent development generating some conflict between them and the local mob.
I'd be surprised if Skavis, Malvora, and Raith weren't all represented in town. The poverty generates despair but it can also lead to crime (desperate people just trying to make ends meet) which generates FEAR for the Malvora to feed on. As for the Raith, lots of strip clubs and hookers in Detroit.
I'm going to gen up an NPC (will probably turn into a PC if I get to play) who works for the Detroit version of Special Investigations. I'm thinking they need a better name than SI though, any ideas?
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Cool clubs in WB... no, but close by in Bloomfield Township is the former Macchus Red Fox (now known as Andiamo) which was the last place Jimmy Hoffa was seen.
Most of the hip clubs are in Pontiac, another rather seedy area.
Ravan - I'm sure you're right. I just vaguely remember the debate back when the Casino's were voted in that they had to have NA partners, and there were those who wanted the chance to go without. I guess they got their way!
Redwulf - I lived all but about 10 years of my life in the Metro Detroit area, moving out only two years ago, but already my memory is beginning to fade....
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Currently living in Farmington Hills, work in Detroit... I see the decay every M-F....
Red: I was thinking Skavis about one of the casino owners, but then I thought about all the times someone won money, generating feelings of hope and happiness, wouldn't that bring pain to them? Just a side thought... Loan sharks... nice diddn't think of that.
As for the Raith house, I was leaning on them either being non-represented to being somewhere outside of the city or in Windsor for that matter. Have to take Windsor into account being just across the tunnel/bridge. I was thinking of having Windsor being more of a Summer representation of the fae while Detroit was mostly Winter, since Windsor has a lot less blight.
I was leaning more towards the RCV influence with all the strip joints... Maybe just a few of them (3?) that are more pricey to snag any influential people for the reds.
I heard recently that Dearborn has the largest Muslim population in the U.S. and was thinking of portraying one or 2 of the mosques as People in the Know and have a group of active good guys that help stop the spread of the decay and corruption of Detroit. just need to come up with a snappy name for them and the mosque... unfortunately, I don't have a lot of knowledge in the Muslim faith.
The more I think about Detroit the more I have a sinking feeling I'll have to create Windsor as well... buggers.
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What do you guys think...
Theme:
Growing Blight of the City
Aspect:
Death and Decay
Faces:
WCV(Malvora)
3 Gangs
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Theme:
cover the Blight with TOURISM!
Aspect:
Next Las Vegas
Faces:
Merian Ilitch RCV
Mickey Two-Fingers Malone WCV(Skavis)
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Threat:
Power Hungry Warlock tapping Detroit's Ley Lines
Aspect:
Dark Power Rising
Faces:
Vincent Pimperton (Power Hungry Warlock)
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Supernatural Status Quo:
Supernatural Powers battle for Dominance while the Summer Court (Burbs) continues to stop the spread of the Winter Court (Sprawl).
Mundane Quo:
Crime, corruption, death and rebuilding; situation normal.
Maintain Quo (in the dark):
Gangs
In the know:
RCV
WCV
Summer Court
Rock the boat (in the dark):
New Mayor
Organized Crime
The Cops
In the Know:
Religious Groups
The Occult
Winter Court
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Some Places:
John King Books
The People Mover
Ambassador Bridge
the Blight
John F. Kennedy Square (ley line convergence)
Compuware building
Casinos
Detroit Institute of Arts
Wayne State University
Having problems coming up with faces for the DIA and Wayne State.... Im leaning on them being Summer Court's foothold in Detroit.
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Looks good, but I have a suggestion.
I don't remember a John F Kennedy park. BUT a little bit south of GRAND CIRCUS PARK (where the Compuware building is) is the convergence of Michigan ave, Woodward, Grand River, and if Fort and Lafayette weren't interrupted by buildings, those too. It's the little patch of green on this map. It has some some statues IRL.
For the life of me, I can't recall what it's called, though.
http://www.planetware.com/map-of/usa/detroit/grand-circus-park-us-mi-gcp.htm (http://www.planetware.com/map-of/usa/detroit/grand-circus-park-us-mi-gcp.htm)
Anyway, there's your actual ley lines.
Woodward Ave was originally a native American trail that led to Pontiac, where the seat of the Oakland County (subrurban) courts are now. It's also the first paved road in the country.
Davison (about 5 or 6 miles north) incidentally is the first "freeway" ever constructed in North America, but that's beside the point.
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Yup, thats J.F. K. Park.
Any ideas on locations and faces? I'll always need some more of them...
Was also thinking of Boblo Island being something as well... just haven't figured out what yet... Darniarian safe house?
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Yup, thats J.F. K. Park.
Any ideas on locations and faces? I'll always need some more of them...
Was also thinking of Boblo Island being something as well... just haven't figured out what yet... Darniarian safe house?
well, perfect then! :D
Bob-Lo... considering it was once an amusement park, and converted to an upscale housing community, I dunno right now. You might consider Belle Isle for something though. Deer run wild, there's the zoo. Perhaps something could possess the animals?
Also consider Monroe, Michigan. That's where George Custer lived. Lots of possible necromancy between monroe, detroit, the War of 1812 and the French and Indian Wars being fought in the area. I'm thinking sort of a early American version of the Wild Hunt...
Then, of course, there's the Royal Oak Post Office, where the term "going postal" was coined when a disgruntled postal worker shot up the place and killed a bunch of employees, including his boss.
People - There's always good old Coleman A. Young.... first black mayor, foul mouthed, alienated the white population after the race riots into taking their businesses to the suburbs. He's passed on now, but it's possible to use his character traits in a fictional frame. His replacement, Dennis Archer, was a good guy (in fact got Compuware to come back to the city) but had SOOOO much stonewalling from the City Council that he refused to run for a second term. Which brings us to Kwame Kilpatrick, young punk mayor with a diamond in his ear, entertaining whores at the Manoogian Mansion (the mayor's residence) a couple of which were murdered not long after by the same type of gun issued to the Detroit Police. Some people say Kwame's wife had something to do with it. BTW - Kwame is the son of state congressperson xxxxxx cheeks-kilpatrick. (can't remember her first name right now.) And of course, The Council itself - rife with controversy, backstabbing and pork hunts for their own districts.
Oh, another location... the Detroit Athletic Club... the type of place Harry might find a Marcone-type character.
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Great ideas, I was going to use the Compuware building for the organized crime angle...
Its a huge office building, Supposedly World Headquarters and there is no compuware stores in Michigan! Also how the company backed Kwame the whole time.
I was leaning it to be Marcone's attempt to grow his power base, bought off Kwame and then decided to cut him off after the last trial. Now they are looking for other political power outlets to bring under their control. "Greetings Mr. Bing..."
Do you have any ideas for an occult tavern like location?
Do I need to make up Pontiac and Windsor as well or is creating locations and faces when I need them good enough?
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Compuware doesn't have stores. IIRC, They write computer applications. Software.
It's not CompUSA.
There's a very Mac's place in Clawson... geez, I wish I could remember the name... corner of 14 mile and main. It's a homebrewery. Would be perfect. stop in for a beer and see for yourself.
I think crossing that bridge when you come to it should be fine re Pontiac and Windsor, but I've never played this stuff before. You might want to at least refer to them. Pontiac being a mini--detroit in the north, and Windsor being a time freeze from the 50's.
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I found a couple of articles online that might help your creative process:
Things I Remember About Detroit (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/things-i-remember-about-detroit/Content?oid=4132988)
The Holdout: alone in an abandoned car plant (http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/30/smallbusiness/chemical_processing_detroit.smb/index.htm)
The Ghostly Salt City Beneath Detroit (http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=17)
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The Ghostly Salt City Beneath Detroit (http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=17)
Ooooo, good catch, ludo! I completely forgot about that!
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Me and a few of my friends have lived in detroit our whole lives and we've spent our last two gaming sessions putting together our own little detroit in the dresdenverse. A few of the better locations and facts we've found are
~http://hubpages.com/hub/Detroits-Nain-Rouge the red gnome legend, throughout detroits history reports of a horrible red gnome appearing around all of the worst tragedies have been common. In our world we are making this creature a mysterious member of the winter court who wanders the streets of the city.
~A counter to the red gnome is the spirit of detroit. http://members.fortunecity.com/fordkramermichigan/detroit/detroit.htm this statue supposedly watches over the city and embodies hope as it wards off the red gnome. We haven't incorporated it into our campaign yet but it's still an interesting fact.
~There are steam tunnels that run beneath much of the city, large dark tunnels that actually connect directly to a number of the buildings. An office I used to work in had a locked door at the bottom of some stairs that actually opened directly into the tunnels. In our city creation we decided it would be a wonderful place for a horde of ghouls to thrive, grabbing people from all over the city into their dark lair.
~At the corner of cass and bagley there is an old building that looks like it's barely standing which houses detroits very own underground goth scene known as City club, the place looks like its completely vacant unless you know where it is and the inside has a long bar, a couple dozen old couches, and a seperate room housing the dance floor. I don't think anything that went on there would surprise the patrons, people dressed as and acting as vampires is completely common, as is people with outrageous costumes of all different sorts. The large basement beneath the club is known as "the labryinth" and often houses insane concerts. In our campaign we have made this entire building a white court business but it would also make excellent accorded neutral ground as the bouncers at the entrance are always very careful about searching people for weapons and even the most bizarre creature wouldn't get a second glance here.
~Another thought we've had is that in the books it was mentioned that a number of ley lines pass through the great lakes. Detroit has a wheel design, with a number of "spokes" coming out from the center of the city. So our thought is that perhaps the reason for the design is that a number of powerful ley lines converge in the center of the city (which is known as campus marshus). This could also be part of the reason for both the decline of the city, being that any number of nasty creatures would want to control that flow of power and use it for all sorts of rituals, so detroit becomes a supernatural battleground and the mortals are just left to deal with the fallout.
One of our aspects of the city is UNORGANIZED CRIME, representing the fact that there is no "Marcone" or any ruling criminal body in the city. There are a seemingly unlimited number of criminals in the city but no structure, no one person to contact when you want to know whats going on in the streets. The average person is so desperate that crime begins to look like a viable option which leads to an extremely dangerous climate where you can never be safe.
Another one of our aspects which might provide some interesting insight to anyone thinking of doing a detroit campaign is A GLIMMER OF HOPE. For how dark and violent the city is, for all the poverty and all the abandoned bulidings that seem to make up the majority of the city there is a 2 or 3 mile square in the center that has started to rebuild and seems almost reminiscent of the well-off city detroit used to be. Starting right near greektown casino and extending over towards comerica park there are a number of nice restaurants, a couple of churches, a theatre (plays not movies). It's a place where you can walk alone in the middle of the night and not be afraid of being mugged.
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Awesome!!! Serathe & Ludo! I will definitly take into advice all of this stuff.
Serathe, what locations are you using? Are you using the DIA and Wayne St as a location? If so how?
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Our locations are
Wayne State University
Detroit Police 3rd precinct
City Club
The detroit steam tunnels
Belle du noir (a made up white court brothel)
Sts. Peter and Paul church (oldest church in detroit)
Harper Hospital
Diamond Jacks river tours (a fancy riverboat that travels the international waters between the us and canada)
Foran's Irish Pub
Mt Ellion Cemetary
Madison theatre
Campus Marshus
Greektown Casino
We're using WSU basically as a large catch all research station. One of our characters has a brother that goes to the medical school there (they have a really good one irl) And our face of the location is an english professor who specializes in local folklore and unofficially has a strong interest in the occult
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Interesting...
Forgot about the police station... got to put that in...
good idea for the research station.....I might have to work that angle... just a bit differently though since I want it to be a location for Summer..
Im running a pure mortal group so I need to get them outlets that help them cope with the supernatural investigation w/o bringing Harry to the D.
Is the pub your Neutral grounds restaurant?
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The pub was going to be our neutral ground but the more I've been thinking about it I'm thinking that maybe the riverboat would be a better route. Our face of the boat is a mortal who seems a little bit in the know and a lot crazy, and international waters being a neutral meeting point could offer some unique possibilities. Also having the neutral ground constantly floating on running water could be interesting. Going to have to run that one by the group tonight so I can finish writing some of the finishing touches for the campaign
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Those are absolutely stellar ideas!
What do you think of Bob-Lo or Belle Isle as neutral ground being islands as they are? It seems to me the boat might be a bit vulnerable to weather conditions.
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I was going to suggest City Club, if you're doing anything with Vampires in Detroit it fits, Red or White. (I used to be a bouncer there, I could tell you stories. ^_^)
For that matter, if you need just a seedy rundown area, don't forget Cass Avenue (none colloquially as "Cass Corridor"). If it's dirty, dangerous, unhealthy and/or illegal it can be found there. Also there's a great bar called "The Temple Bar" on the corner of Cass and Temple... George the Owner/Bartender would make for a great Face, especially because his bar is alot like MacAnally's. Could totally see it being Accorded Neutral Ground.
If you're looking for artsy "psychic friendly" ground, Wyandotte's about 15 minutes south of the city on the river and has a great many little places that would work well. The Cosmic Eye Crystal & Stone Shop easily comes to mind.
*God I miss Detroit*
Hope this helps. ^_^
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huh, I can have Ilitch own City Club through a holding company and have another RCV there running the place... helps me get in a low level face... okay I like that. Rolling on..
I need help with 3 gang leader names
1 black gang
1 Mexican gang (mexican town)
1 biker gang
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anyone?
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There's a motorcycle gang clubhouse on Fenkell, not too far from where I lived, and for the life of me I cannot remember the gang's name.
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There's a motorcycle gang clubhouse on Fenkell, not too far from where I lived, and for the life of me I cannot remember the gang's name.
Ha. I need the leader's names... Like Joe Shmoe.
Having a hard time getting the names together.
As for the gang names... that was just a little bit of research.
Bloods (seems like they have a chapter everywhere)
Coneyonlys (Detroit Gang)
Detroit Highwaymen (Detroit Motorcycle Gang)
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The Highwaymen are the ones I'm thinking of most likely, butI'll put my brain to work on actual people's names if you like
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Hey Ravan I sent you a pm.
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Saw this site...don't know just how good (or accurate) it is.
http://www.gangresearch.net/Archives/documents/alphabet.html (http://www.gangresearch.net/Archives/documents/alphabet.html)
One day I will escape Michigan!!!
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LOL - I did! It was the right thing to do!