ParanetOnline
The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Rechan on February 16, 2008, 10:12:37 PM
-
So, since the RPG itself is long in coming, I thought that maybe we could just brainstorm in general about possible adventures.
Granted, many of ye olde adventures have some connection to the location you set your game, or your players, but some may purely be 'plug and play' type adventures.
I find that good inspiration for this could be old episodes of The X-Files, or Kolchek the Nighthunter. However, both of these assume a level of "Mundane trying to prove it's supernatural", so in the Dresdenverse, that isn't necessary.
-
I'm kinda fixated the 30 and having a team hunt them down.
-
Perhaps some sort of heist plot - the MacGuffin of Mystic Doom is being held by malicious and/or ignorant parties in a ridiculously overprotected location and the goal of the adventure is to (ahem) liberate it. Bonus points for gratuitous references to MINI's, casinos, and Freemasons. ;)
-
I was thinking about moving it to a city closer to me... like Atlanta and using some of the history of the city.. like one of Marta lines has problems that might be related to ancestors of William Sherman.. or but that is just one idea
-
Simple enough.
A young wizard is gathering to much power and influence, he is streching the councel to thin in constant raids, something needs to be done about him or we could lose the war.
The PCs are a group of agents of the White Councel who have the mission of stopping this guy.
That will be the first adventure to show that you can't just do what you want without consaquences.
-
I definitely want to use something like the Trickster from Supernatural. A demi-god like entity with real powerful magic - all about altering reality to play tricks on people.
-
The idea that the PCs be a group of (aprentice?) Wardens of the White Council makes sense - certainly an excuse for a wizards to hang out together.
Another excuse might be to have a group apprenticed to the same wizard (like Harry & Elaine)
However, PCs could also be part of Harry's "paranet" as alluded to in the sample chapters of 'Small Favour' - new, young, feeble magic users who have banded together for mutual protection.
Or, what about a group of half turned, Fellowship of St Giles types?
Or, changelings a la Lily, Fix et al in Summer Knight?
Or what about the Alphas as a template?
Personally, I like the paranet angle as overpowered PCs are kind of unimaginative to play - it could be fun to see them develop, come to the attention of the White Council etc.
-
Hmm.. why don't we all play a trial through email or chat just for a tryout and for fun? and GMs take turns to showcase their adventures? So i guess the adventures should not be too long and overly complicated. that way the Reign of GM'ing could pass on to another with their stories.
if there're alot of pple that would sign up to play, we could have multiple small groups with 1 GM each...
we can also setup a blog on the adventures for pple to read and get inspired.
I'm sure there're some veterans or newbies alike out there that would love to play and try out the Dresdenverse but have no groups to play with and some GMs dying to tell some stories of their own too..
ps... playing a game is not really about the rules for it is just a guide..the enjoyment of the story telling and the participation in it is the Real fun of it.
-
Not sure how that would work, Meowsan. Sounds interesting but... :)
Another thought is playing with dreams. A creature or warlock invading the dreams of people ala Kreugar. This would of course also raise the issue of the Third Law of Magic, if people wanted to jump into the target's head to stop it/fight it.
-
I definitely want to use something like the Trickster from Supernatural. A demi-god like entity with real powerful magic - all about altering reality to play tricks on people.
Sounds like the Fae courts to me...
I was thinking about moving it to a city closer to me... like Atlanta and using some of the history of the city.. like one of Marta lines has problems that might be related to ancestors of William Sherman.. or but that is just one idea
That would be unique in that, if you did a bunch of research and then let the players do the same in RL. Truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes
-
I think that my group is going to put something together this weekend just using the Spirit of the Century rules. This lets us have something in place if we get picked as testers.
Without magic rules and stuff, I think we will just be making mostly normal characters.
For the first few games, I will be running a plot revolving around a single black court vampire feeding off of homeless. Here in Phoenix, we have a large, but dry river bottom that runs through the southern part of the city. We often have homeless squatters that set up tents and cardboard homes. There is also a long history of Native American buildings in the area. So the plot will have a black court vampire discovering an unknown subterranean Native American structure with access to the river bottom. Unexplained deaths will lead the heroes to investigate. As soon as we have some characters, I’ll figure out how to get them involved after we get the characters together.
-
I think that my group is going to put something together this weekend just using the Spirit of the Century rules. This lets us have something in place if we get picked as testers.
Without magic rules and stuff, I think we will just be making mostly normal characters.
For the first few games, I will be running a plot revolving around a single black court vampire feeding off of homeless. Here in Phoenix, we have a large, but dry river bottom that runs through the southern part of the city. We often have homeless squatters that set up tents and cardboard homes. There is also a long history of Native American buildings in the area. So the plot will have a black court vampire discovering an unknown subterranean Native American structure with access to the river bottom. Unexplained deaths will lead the heroes to investigate. As soon as we have some characters, I’ll figure out how to get them involved after we get the characters together.
OOOO OOOO doesn't it rain really hard once or twice a year and get that dry river bottom pretty wet? If you have the story start right before the rains come it might put more of a time crunch on the players...You know - solve the mystery and get the bad guy before the flash floods come and wash all the evidence out into the desert. - and keep in mind that would also ground out any magic - I think Black Vamps and running water are a bad combo as well - if the players time it just right they could use that against the vamps - or the GM could use it as a deux ex machina to save the players if they go too far...ect.
just a thought.
-
Good ideas! Thanks!
-
Sounds like the Fae courts to me...
I'm not sure how I would handle it, with fae though. While "Trickery" is the Fae domain, I'm thinking something more on par with Loki, Coyote, etc - very interested in Mortal affairs, or at least the affairs of individuals that they feel need to be "taught a lesson".
I do think that the best way to strip them of their magic, or make them vulnerable to actual death, is to trick them. Once the Trickster is made the Fool, his magic is null and void against those that trick him.
-
ok i understand that there is a paper copy kinda like dnd but will there be an online version or is there already, like the old mudd's or like doom or the other online games they have now that would be cool
-
I was thinking a good fit with some of the horror and humor of the Dresdenverse would be Whedon's Buffyverse. I have used a Harry-style character in a Buffy campaign I ran. I was think of using some stuff from Buffy episodes as inspiration for Dresden adventures. One ememy I was thinking about would be the Gentlemen from the episode Hush. Use them as a group of wild Fae like the Erlking from the Nevernever that comes to town to cause havoc. Maybe a wizard has summoned them as a diversion. Maybe they are looking for something or someone. maybe one of the PCs.
I do not know the group I will be using as PCs. I was thinking of just letting the players think up individual characters with no overall theme because I do not live in a city with enough interest to have a large group of wizards or anything else for that matter. I will probably just end up using Baltimore.
-
One ememy I was thinking about would be the Gentlemen from the episode Hush. Use them as a group of wild Fae like the Erlking from the Nevernever that comes to town to cause havoc. Maybe a wizard has summoned them as a diversion. Maybe they are looking for something or someone. maybe one of the PCs.
Those guys give off serious "Demon" vibes.
Demons in how they are defined in the Dresdenverse: Predators of the Nevernever.
-
I'm not sure how I would handle it, with fae though. While "Trickery" is the Fae domain, I'm thinking something more on par with Loki, Coyote, etc - very interested in Mortal affairs, or at least the affairs of individuals that they feel need to be "taught a lesson"..
What if an individual that really did need to be 'taught a lesson' who made a deal with a member of the Winter Court, enlisted the players to help them get out of the deal. Loki or Coyote would do as well or maybe make up your own bad guy...
-
This thread is similar to one from last year...
But let's see, my potential players have all expressed
A.) Wariness about mixing modern times and the supernatural (we primarily play d20 and d20 Modern hasn't worked outs so well that way)
B.) An interest in being mortal or near to it.
So for my part this means little or no involvement with the White Council. These players will not be working for them at least. It also means that we have to be careful with the supernatural, as the suspension of disbelief is tenuous.
We actually live in Baltimore, and the region really is rich in material, so that part isn't so bad. We'll mainly be looking at "Classic" fairy tale or nursery rhyme bad guys, with some of the more overt Dresden baddies coming out later. So we'll look at the boogeyman, el chupacabra, Black Aggie (of course, though it's not in Baltimore anymore, I don't think), the "Wandering Jew" (no offense meant there, just a title), or many other folklore creatures including goblins, gremlins, and the Shadow Man (from an 80's Twilight Zone episode... good stuff).
One main character will actually be a Fallen Angel disguised as a businessman. He'll likely be the main antagonist that connects through the campaign, though I think we'll be serialized otherwise. We may even get a chance to look at Titans or nephilim down the road.
I think the first one will be a young man using magic to steal money. The characters need to track down what seems like impossible heists. Ultimately the young man is using the money to save his sister who is in the hospital with _____. May force a Warden confrontation by having the young man dominate someone's mind.
Other thoughts include doing a Ghost Hunters style "episode" where the ghost is actually a real boogeyman. My intention is to make great use of the player's ability to look online for things. If we can use real research for their characters, all the better! If I throw out an unusual creature, I'll just have to make sure that I can give the players good search terms or something. :) Anyway, now I'm rambling, so: Later!
-
DFRPG adventures I can see falling into the Buffy, "Monster" a week or BBETTCAWDTW (Big Bad Evil Thing That Can And Will Destroy The World" a Week structure. This week the Shroud of Turin, next week the actual Grendel and the week after that soe introspective character moments involving Sweet from Once More, With Feeling.
But, that can work in a DF game and it will never get boring.
IMHO, the key to a Dresdenified Adventure is the Dresden Tongue-in-cheek/Dry/Black Humor that comes with Harry Dresden's world view.
In D&D Adventures, you can have the monster destroying the town adventure plot and the adventure will work. It's an average day.
In Eberron, you can do that same Adventure with a subplot that adds dark overtones to it.
In Cyberpunk, you can do this, but the likelyhood the characters will survive is tanked unless they get really creative.
In the Dresden Files, you have to combine all three of these approaches and make it funny.
Often times the players shouldn't add a pop culture reference or laugh, but they just gotta....
In fact, it's a requirement....
However, no 2 DMs will approach the same material the same way. Everybody likes different parts of Dresden. Some people like the Phillip Marlowe aspect, wanting to make their game dark or like Angel. While others like the humor and have a serious threat in an awkward situation.
Example Adventure(This sounds like the beginning of a Dresden Book): A new Panda has been brought into the City Zoo. However, the Zookeeper skimped on the money(Pandas are expensive) and didn't want to handle the Chinese Government, so he got a Panda through a shady dealer. The Panda they ended up with was a Demon that was dormant, but now has run amok in the zoo. The players begin the adventure being called in by the Murphy Surrogate to handle the Demon. They find the Demon sleeping in the middle of the Zoo, dead bodies all around.
Some DMs will feel inclined to downplay the humor, going for more of the, "it's a big scary thing running around the zoo killing people. Not funny" Players: "But it's a panda!" DM: "Blood drips from its teeth..."
While some DMs will instead go for an adventure in a more off the wall style. If I was going for that kind of game I would follow the previous details with the following:
The Demon Panda snores as one of the Zookeepers crawls away to safety. He makes a sound. The Panda awakens and groggily tosses him like a ragdoll. All the while, the Panda yells, not growls, but yells in Cantonese and goes back to sleep.
Even if a PC doesn't speak Mandarin or Cantonese they figure the Panda basically said, "QUIET! SHUT UP! QUIET! I SAID QUIET! WHAT'S THE MATTA', YOU DEEF OR SOMETHIN'?" If someone does speak Cantonese, they know he said exactly that. The players will die laughing and end up angering the panda and starting the adventure.
(Extra points to the person who knows the origin of that joke...)
IT all depends on the DM, the group and the interpretation of Dresden you like.
-
DFRPG adventures I can see falling into the Buffy, "Monster" a week or BBETTCAWDTW (Big Bad Evil Thing That Can And Will Destroy The World" a Week structure. This week the Shroud of Turin, next week the actual Grendel and the week after that soe introspective character moments involving Sweet from Once More, With Feeling.
You also might want to go 'X-files style' if you have mainly low powered or human characters. (one could have fairy in their bloodline, one could be a 'one trick pony' while one could just be the super investigator type) - This would be a Monster-of-the-week and/or a main uber-bad guy who comes back once in a while.
I always thought the RPG could be like a high powered Kolchack;The Night Stalker episodes - with Carl's sense of humor (very much like Harry's but understated) and investigation rather than the Buffy - there's the bad guy now roll the dice and kill it - mentality. I guess it's more of what kind of group you have. Either one would work depending on your players.
IMHO, the key to a Dresdenified Adventure is the Dresden Tongue-in-cheek/Dry/Black Humor that comes with Harry Dresden's world view...
Often times the players shouldn't add a pop culture reference or laugh, but they just gotta....
In fact, it's a requirement....
It is also the GMs responsibility to add them. Maybe your fighting an evil construct of Elvis - or a winter Fae lord has decided he wants to take over the life left by Kurt Cobain. Why would The Black Court back a local (or presidential) politician? There is a ghost who has possessed a local lawyer to win the cases he lost in life. All kinds of different types of humor are a possibility. Just look in the different sections of the newspaper.
Or a history book. What, if anything, did the White Counsel do during WW2 or the French Revolution? What interesting characters can you bring from history to the present or have your characters back in time fighting something then?
However, no 2 DMs will approach the same material the same way. Everybody likes different parts of Dresden. Some people like the Phillip Marlowe aspect, wanting to make their game dark or like Angel. While others like the humor and have a serious threat in an awkward situation...
IT all depends on the DM, the group and the interpretation of Dresden you like.
As a GM to keep it 'Dresden like' you should use some over-the-top humorous situations and, of course the idea that most people don't know about this stuff and it will not come out in the open in a big way for fear of stirring up the human hordes. There are big bad things out there watching you, and some are on your side, some are neutral, and some are eeeeevil.
A GM should remember that, though they are running the game, if the players aren't syncing with the stories you making (ie they are not investigators and you have a Phillip Marllow style game) then you have to adapt your world to their playing ability.
-
Simple enough.
A young wizard is gathering to much power and influence, he is streching the councel to thin in constant raids, something needs to be done about him or we could lose the war.
The PCs are a group of agents of the White Councel who have the mission of stopping this guy.
That will be the first adventure to show that you can't just do what you want without consaquences.
Wait... you're having your first adventure be going up against Harry?
-
Wait... you're having your first adventure be going up against Harry?
I don't know if that's what Wyldcard intended, but a twist ending wherein the PC's are encourged to go up against one of the series' good guys would be great. Or, alternatively, aiding one of the bad guys. . . Such as, say, the recovery of a stolen coin collection? Specializing in 1st century Roman coinage that has been mysteriously and systematically defaced? ;)
-
I don't know if that's what Wyldcard intended, but a twist ending wherein the PC's are encourged to go up against one of the series' good guys would be great. Or, alternatively, aiding one of the bad guys.
I'm hoping to have a little more ambiguity than just good and bad. Yes - there are some pretty obvious bad guys, but for example was Bianca really bad? I know she lived by her nature, she killed people and she didnt get on with Harry, but in a certain light she was in the right, andHarry was the argessor. A lot of people don't get on with Harry and they aren't neccessarily bad.
How about Molly? If you ask Morgan he might well put her in the evil camp. So might the Merlin.
Now imagine the fun you can have by sending the White Council send the players out to deal with someone who's broken the laws of magic who's under the protection of the church. The church feel he's on Gods side, whilst the Council feel he's a Warlock. Perhaps the guys a faith healer who's cast out demons (and cured mental trauma). Maybe he's used magic to end the lives of people in great pain peacefully. You could even have someone transforming people to remove dibilitating injuries - making them whole.
Or you could look at it from the other side. How is the church going to react if some guy with a sword decapitates a beloved faith healer.
In fact how would the White Council react if they had the police, FBI and church after one of their wardens who'd just done his duty. Would they protect him or just cast him free. Maybe the'd send someone to silence him before he was interrogated?
There are a lot of morally ambiguous situations, characters and organisations in the Dresden books. The only characters who's loyalties we can be pretty sure about are Harry (since we 'hear' his thoughs) and Kincade (who is always on his own side). None of the organisations are entirely pure or entirely unpure. Both the council and the Chicago police are more concerned about politics than what's right, and groups like the White Court keep surprising us by showing redeaming characteristics. Its not black and white, so why should our adventures be?
-
I'm hoping to have a little more ambiguity than just good and bad. Yes - there are some pretty obvious bad guys, but for example was Bianca really bad? . . . How about Molly? If you ask Morgan he might well put her in the evil camp. So might the Merlin.
True, but the very fact that I said "good guys" and "bad guys" instead of "heroes" and "villains" (or even "protagonists" and "antagonists") indicates the effect that sort of dramatic twist that a scenario like what I attempted to describe would generate.
-
An exclusive clinic offers "reparative" therapy to change the sexual orientation of homosexual patients seems to have a booming business until people start turning up dead. A few staff members and patients of the clinic end up dead of apparent suicide and one patient is discovered by the White Council to be possessed of strong mental magic.
It all seems over except for the beheading when someone notices that the clinic has connections to Skavis and Raith. The strongest evidence is an electronic money trail, though, and is regarded skeptically by most of the older wizards.
-
Hoping nobody i'd play with will see this.
Imaging you're a young up start wizard/wizards, you've stayed off the radar not so much hiding from the council, if you even knew it was around but fear you will be called a freak/freaks, but you've used your talents to help friends and family so a reputation has been formed.
Set up, a group of relgious fanatics go on a modern day witch hunt, they catch wind of your and the groups talents and come after you more than likely will try to burn you at the stake in some remote national forest or wearhouse.
twist one, the council is trying to track the group down too, so the players are facing two mysterious groups tracking them eventually the council will tell them of the laws of magic and if they break those laws then they will be hunted by the council as well. And since the fanatics are human norms well that poses a problem
twist two, the fanatics are in reality lead and fooled by a vampire, you pick flavor of the day as far as court you want to use, his/her goal is to track down upstart wizards and kill them before the council can recruit them.
twist three, some of the local authorities are members of the fanatics.
end result, destroy the vampire, earn a good mark with the council for saving other wizards from future harm and not hurting the norms or destroy everybody and be under probation if not hunted by the council.
also a reason this in my opinion would make a good intro the the dresden world and a campaign would be that whenever things are going smooth and you need to "living" things up a bit, throw a disgruntled fanatic into a future session to keep the group on their toes. if they are now under the eye of the council the laws of magic still apply.
-
I've been thinking that Vegas would be a good city for a campaign.
Gambling,Show Business,The Mob, Elvis, and more would be a great combination. I've even got a couple of NPC's thought of:
Fenris - A stage magician at the Ice Palace, who may or may not be Loki The Trickster. He has true magical powers and is associated in some form with the Winter Court.
The King - An Elvis impersonator who can speak with the dead.
-
The King - An Elvis impersonator who can speak with the dead.
ROFL XD
That is SO a Dresden idea! Dude, if Butcher had the opportunity, I bet he'd throw him in for shiggles and gits, that's great.
If ya throw that guy into an ongoing larp, he should be a running gag character, kinda like Butters or The Box Ghost. (Kudos if ya got that one.)
-
A body shows up in the swamp, near the mall. It shows signs of having been bound, hand and foot, with some sort of manacles. The heart and some other organs have been surgically removed. Most disturbingly, the person seems to have been alive when the cutting started. The police have no solid leads.
Clues lead the PCs to the local university, to a group of pre-med students. It seems that some among their number have made a pact with a demonic creature to get into Harvard medical, and the body was just part of their pact, a sacrifice. The details of the sacrifice imply a type of demon which will require more, precisely timed sacrifices. Three are required on the upcoming new moon, which is tomorrow night.
Oh, and the local White Court considers campus their private hunting ground. With the war going the way it is, pissing off the White Court is absolutely not an option.
Find the killers, stop the sacrifice, and make nice with the local White Court, all while dodging the efforts of a powerful demonic entity and campus police. No pressure, or anything.