Request for Ideas and Help

[arsieiuni]

Hello all! I am a Dresden Fan since the start, RPer since I was a kid! I love the Dresdenverse and having played with Fate before I'm glad to see Dresden RPG set on the Fate system.
So far, I have had a character gen session with my usual group of players and we have created a wonderful set of PCs. Because we were playing this game to give ourselves a break from our normal style of play, I'm glad the Fate system is SO different from our usual games (more storytelling than system I mean) and I think we're all going to enjoy it. I made a PC to play with the group because it's just our style. Don't worry about that part We almost always have a DMPC and we love it that way.

Anyway, my group decided they wanted to play in our own local Metropolis (lol well kinda): Birmingham, Alabama.
We know the city decently but we can all agree not to get stuck on reality and most importantly: B'ham has a lot of history.
Ever heard of Alabama Ghost Stories? Well let's just say my group has been into the Paranormal investigation sect since we were kids. There are plenty of haunted locations in B'ham and the surrounding areas. We all know that Sloss Furnaces is one of the coolest places for an area where the Veil is thin and spooky stuff could happen, and we even have a few great ideas for supernatural involvement. There's a really awesome magic/pagan community in B'ham so we used that for the actual meeting place and for some NPCs for the magical folk. The Botanical Gardens have become our idea of where the Summer Fey are trying to keep a foothold. Drummond Company is Red Court. Skavis controls the DEA and helps keep it from being too effective (there's a lot of drug activity in central Alabama). Raith has just moved into town in the past few years and set up a supernatural bordello in the Winfrey Hotel (at the Galleria. "The" shopping site in Bham). And more...
In other words, we have a lot of good ideas so far and the PCs really ran with the ideas for their own stories.
I have:
Charles Christian: Apothecary Wizard (Selling his wares at a local Metaphysical shop and trying to keep his young apprentice out of trouble)
Corey: (Forget his High Concept, but he's a Sorcerer that likes fire and he's apprenticed to Charles)
Ashely Currigan: Reluctant Monster (Black Court Vampire (We made up the template based upon the info in the book.))
Tamara Raith: Rebel Royalty (WCV, sewing her wild oats and trying to keep from being enslaved to her family more or less. She's my DMPC.)
Unnamed Character (It was one guy's Bday on chargen so we all left open our last phase slots so we can bring him in tight): The Botanical Guardian (Fey Knight, protector of the Botanical Gardens)


And this all brings me to my request.

I have a lot of great general ideas for "Plot Hooks" and "Story Seeds"... such as:
All over the City there have been strange areas of unnatural darkness appearing. At first, these floating "dark-spots" had seemed harmless and had only left a few people with feelings of dread or fear trying to make it from their car to their house or what have you, but last night's news reported the disappearance of a local girl about four days ago. She had been seen walking down the sidewalk near First National Bank when security cameras caught her stepping into an unusually dark area. She could not be seen exiting on the other side, and has not been seen since. Since the report, more and more disappearances have been ocurring and....

This is where I get lost.
I have a neat idea... a cool start.. but I have no idea "why" or "what'.
When my PCs start investigating... where will this lead them?
What is behind it all?

If I can't fill out these story ideas to that point... then I can't run the session because I don't know what answers to give them when they search and find... I don't know what to tell them they discover.

I have had this issue before in investigation oriented stories... I could be more straight forward but I love mystery in my games.
I'd like to finish out the story above because I think it's a neat start... but I could really use some help, some ideas and even some advice on how to finish out stories like that in general. That's just one example of a story seed I've come up with... But I want to make sure it is clever, continuant, and compelling.

Anyway, any advice, ideas, etc would be appreciated. Thank you!


Arsh

[luminos]

A warlock is creating the fear and darkness.  The darkness is just evocation, but the disappearances are him sending people to the nevernever.  He is doing this because he wants to provoke a reaction.  He thinks that if enough people in the city start to fear the dark, they will finally believe in something supernatural, rise up, and fight back against this.  His intentions are good, but he is willing to go to horrible lengths to achieve this objective, including mind magic and killing people.

[arsieiuni]

luminos, I love that idea. Considering we determined Bham should have a lot of rogue necromancers, etc because of the enormous amount of spirit activity, I could also go with it being a necromancer capturing victims (carting them into a cage in the nevernever and on to his sanctuary) to kill and raise or using them to make a flesh golem even.

This gets some wheels turning.

I like the idea generally, and I think I could draw everyone in the party in pretty easily by making some of the disappearances relevant to them (being people they know even).

Ty for the help! Any further thoughts are appreciated.

[Morgan]

One possibility with FATE is to just let your players tell you what is behind the plot. Have them make declarations or assessments and give them free rein to come up with the aspects that inform the fiction. Once they've done the heavy lifting for you, you can probably come up with an antagonist and work out the rest of the the plot.

Ask some pointed questions about the things the discover. So you found a mystic symbol at the scene where is it from? What fact does that police report tell you that they've been keeping out of the press? Which bar did that matchbook with the mysterious phone number come from? What kind of creature could make those tracks? Pretty soon your adventure is written for you all you need to do is throw some stats on the villains, then throw them some curves, and remember to hit their troubles and compel their aspects along the way.

But if trying that all sounds a bit too weird, the situation you've described sounds like a Black Court Vampire might be behind it.  

[arsieiuni]

Morgan, Great ideas and admittedly, that's how I USUALLY run games lol But I was trying to cop out less on this one.

Anyway, BCV would be neat since one of my PC's is a newly turned BCV and thus there's obviously some BCV in the area. Perhaps they could be partner one of two where the other was the one that got FRIED right after turning the PC. Huh. Nice tie-in.

Anyway, I'm going to think about this some more but I'm loving the feedback.

[Morgan]

Arsieiuni, if that's your usual mode of play then give it a try, FATE/DFRPG is especially good at it what with all the creative control and power that it gives to the players. But if you really want to have some more prep then I'd look to your city's Threat Aspect. What is the main problem in the city, and who are the faces behind that threat? Once you've got those then tie them into the darkness and the disappearances. If you've already got ideas for BCV and Necromancers, two great tastes that taste great together by the way, do you have any Faces in your city that fit those descriptions? What are their motives for what they are doing, and is there a way to tie the plot into at least two or more PC Troubles?

[Lanir]

Your best bet if this is a common occurance is to look back at your city once you get these neat ideas. Who would profit from the events you're thinking of? Sometimes you'll see something obvious at this point. The big boss of some faction you've described can readily be counted on to be interested in this event and capable of pulling it off. Voila, you have your villain. But it's not always quite that simple. Sometimes you need to add in lieutenants who need something to happen. Whether it's covering up incompetence, expanding their influence or attempting a power grab, their needs may be behind current events. And if they can't manage to cause an effect you want, they may be outsourcing.

Ideally you already have some idea of what the various factions in your city want. No matter how unusual or supernaturally powerful they are, they'll have one similarity to real world people: almost no one simply wants things to continue on as they are. And to make it a good story, if that is what they want, it's because they have to cling desperately to the status-quo while other groups chip away at their own goal to change everything. I'm guessing if you have thought out your motives they already have something to do with the aspects and stories of the PCs. If you haven't done that yet, remember to cater to the game your players are buying from you when you do.

[arsieiuni]

Thanks to both of you for more excellent advice!

The themes of the  city we came up with together were: Haunted, Crime Rate, and "Can't Throw a Stone"  (without hitting a Supernatural)

We didn't generate any threats partly because my players didn't want me to really tell them the threats. They would rather those things be kept secret until revealed, so I am working with a blank slate there. I do have some ideas though.


I probably want to grab a second Faces Sheet and work out some more NPCs beyond the ones the PCs helped me generate. They wanted me to come up with some stuff that is beyond their knowledge, and normally I'd do that anyway so I'm going to want to set up a second set of sheets with additional threats and faces.

Now... my first thought here is to say that the BCV that turned Ashley had a partner and they were originally working together on this idea. Since Corey incinerated BCV1, BCV2 is left with the job and not enough help, so he seeks out a rogue necromancer and they decide to do some dirty work together (or the BCV compels the necro to do so, whatever. This is a rough draft.). So to finish the original plan, Necro and BCV2 work together and start using the dark-spots to kidnap people all around the city. Amid those people, one of the people who goes missing happens to be a summer fey changeling who is friends with the Unnamed Botanical Guardian, another will be Ashley's former lover (from before her "incident"), and another is one of the local minor talents who reads tarot and runes at the metaphysical shop where Charles sells his herbal concoctions. Now everyone is tied into it in some way. Charles and Corey will be interested in the situation ANYWAY because it's an unusual magical happening in their area and Charles is the only /full wizard/ around. Corey, being an apprentice will go with his master. Botanical Guardian will want to know what happened to his friend. Ashley will definitely want to know what happened to her girlfriend. Tamara will go along with the whole thing because it's interesting, exciting and she wanted to help Ashley out.

Now the meat and bones of the situation is questionable. How will they investigate this? What clues can I give them?

One idea is to let them find one of the dark spots (if they go looking) and maybe end up in the Nevernever, or at least getting a feeling of where the dark-spots lead.
Another thought is that if my Wizard decides to do some Thaumaturgy and seek out the source, he may be able to find the lair of the necro or BCV and go about it the direct way, but then, the hostages could get trapped in the Nevernever.

I also want to solidify WHY the people are being kidnapped. For some reason I had it in my head that they were all girls. Maybe it's for some sort of ritual that would involve sacrificing them.
Which leads me to ask what did the BCVs come here for in the first place? What's their motivation? What were they seeking to gain?
Well BCVs usually want power and better places to exist.
So maybe this was a brilliant plan to forge a little place for them in the Magic City.
But with a strong Red Court Presence and a decent Skavis presence and minor Raith presence... I don't know how likely it'd be a BCV or two could say, even using nasty rituals involving killing young girls, take out a major player in the RC or WC in town. Maybe something like that was a first stage idea in their plan to chip away at some of the bigger powers there until the city was a little more comfortable for them to try and integrate themselves into.
And who knows, if the PCs don't manage to kill the BCV they may be a recurring villain along those lines.
Trying to slowly remove some of the oppressive power of the other courts in Bham...

Does that idea sound cool at all?

Other thoughts?

[Lanir]

All girls? My first thought was actually a little snippet from the info box on Scions on page YS 75:

the Nevernever really wants to breed with us, it seems

The girls aren't the goal of the Black Court Vampires. They're payment. The benefit of this idea is if you do it right you can set yourself up for a future adventure (quite possibly the next one the PCs go on) much like the stories in the novels do. Things get hectic, the PCs encounter a few demons/fae/whatever but once the hostages are back in hand, they're simply too busy making sure those women are safe and back where they belong to go on a vengeance streak. And nine months later, some or all of them may have unusual newborns. And once the kids are old enough to be weaned off of milk, daddy may want to come collect his "payment" if the PCs haven't dealt with him already.

Generally you have two options if you go this route. All the women will have children from a similar source or faction. All demons, all winter fae, whatever. This is appropriate if the vampires are looking for an alliance with a powerful faction. Another route is if they set up something more like a brothel designed to sire children for specific interested parties. In this case the children's fathers could be anything but they will possibly be more motivated to recover their offspring.

[Richard_Chilton]

If supernaturals are that common, then you could have the black spots be a reaction to them.  Sort of a defense mechanism where the nevernever (or something else - maybe the WC is doing it) is reaction to the presence of so many supernaturals.

Maybe the reason so many girls are disappearing is that they are looking for a certain type but the people grabbing them can't spot the type.  For example, there's that monster who needs a virgin and mead to reproduce who can apparently sense virgins.  If someone is looking for virgins and can't sense them then they could be grabbing girls at random, "checking" them, then holding the rejects so no one reports the kidnappings, or for another reason, or they are just killing them.  If the BCV are involved then maybe one of them needs virgin blood to effect a recovery from a "should have killed it" injury.

Why take so many at random? Maybe the someone who's grabbing them doesn't really understand humanity to the point where they can't guess who is and isn't a virgin, or maybe that group is messing with the thing they are serving.  Something like: "Of course you're the master and we are bringing you virgins.  Why here's one now.  What, she's not a virgin? Strange.  I thought most of the dancers at that strip club were virgins.  Oh well, we'll put her aside with the others that we plan to do X with and get you another one who I'm SURE will be a virgin.  I'll just put aside the plans I've been working on for years and go out and fetch you another one."

Richard

Richard

[arsieiuni]

Wow tons of really great ideas here! You guys are amazing! Let me just say that I will definitely remain active at this forum because so far it seems to have a great community!


Some wonderful ideas everywhere. I like the thought that the BCVs are trying to bargain with a more powerful entity to get what they want in the Magic City.
So I'm thinking they have a Demon on the other end and that's where the dark spots are coming from. The Demon is sending the dark spots around and snatching victims that the BCVs are targetting. This was originally an arrangement where the BCVs would point out people to be snatched and the Demon would Eat the ones marked for eating and KEEP the ones marked for keeping. But NOW since BCV1 got toasted, the deal has been changed a little.
So the Demon gets to EAT those marked for eating, KEEP those marked for keeping, and then he gets another here or there and goes 'Wait what?" and the BCV2 is like "Oooh my bad, here, I'll just take that one off your hands." and is collecting group number 3, which are virgins for a ritual to heal BCV1! (Great, now the guy that turned my PC is coming back to life. He was horribly burned but not destroyed. This works since my players actually described that they left a "Charred corpse" in the alley and not a "pile of ashes". So now I can use that against them. Mwaha.)

Now why are we eating some, keeping some? Taking out some individuals in the mundane power hierarchy. A few business people, a politician, etc. Those are the ones getting fed to the demon. These people have to be corrupt to begin with and this is why the demon is able to feed upon them so easily. Next, the keepers. These are the ones that were payments to the Demon particularly who is doing the bidding of the BCVs otherwise. These are people the DEMON has particularly requested. They are a few individuals who the Demon refused to explain his interest in. (They are all very pretty girls though, so you do the math.)

The BCVs are like 'Sure whatever" and help target the ones the Demon asked for. So now the disappearances are not limited to pretty girls. It's not that simple. But a good handful of pretty girls are involved. One still being my BCVPC's former girlfriend... This gets really nasty. (I can't go with the "impregnated" idea though because one of my Players has a true panic-aversion to rape and I can't imagine that the Demon would just ask the girls nicely and buy them a drink.) The PCs will need a way to figure out what's going on and a chance to fight the Demon. They will want to save the pretties from the Demon. This will either end in the Demon's death or it will end in the Demon escaping from them while they get to free the girls. This part dealt with, they either have a dead Demon and some answers (laying about his lair and from the girls) or they will have a Demon on the loose that hates them that I can pull back in later.

The BCVs at this point are busy trying to pick up BCV1 from his firefight with Corey. They are slaughtering a circle of virgins to return BCV1 to some sibilance of his former glory. So when the PCs get there, it may be too late to save these girls lives, or not, depending on how fast they get there. Cinematically, ideally, they arrive just in time to see the BCV1 rising in the end of the ritual and ready to kick some ass, with the red-haired fire mage that shot him down standing RIGHT there. So he's going to be like 'What is this? My birthday?' and go for the sorcerer with vengeance in mind. Meanwhile, BCV2 has a nasty trick up his sleeve to keep the PCs busy while he keeps an eye on things and tries to keep things from going south for their plans. He has a nice little pocket of Renfields ready to unleash with mundane weapons and maybe something like a tiger stolen from the zoo. (Classic)

Now there's a big fight evident at two places in the story. How can it be resolved?

BCVs could be killed completely, but if at all possible, BCV2 will make his escape while BCV1 is getting his due from the PCs. He might unleash renfields and a tiger, but then he's going to step back into the Nevernever (they did just kill a BUNCH of virgins on this spot so he should be able to break through pretty easily) and be gone. He can come back to terrorize the party later.

Assuming the Demon got away earlier, the BCV2 and Demon could both be a returning issue.
Regardless, I'm going to assume they'll save the hostages from the Demon whether it lives or dies and that the virgins will get slaughtered for the ritual. Maybe one was held in reserve and is in a cage nearby and can thus tell them what happened otherwise. This would help tie a few thoughts together...

That said, my BCVPC will get a shot at killing the guy that turned her and everyone else gets  a chance for revenge against the dirty nasty folks that are trying to tear up their city, if they don't just want to kill them on principle by now.

I think it's a good story. I think it has a lot of potential to tie eeeeverything together and come back later. I love the idea of a Demon working with BCVs.

I adore all of you for your thoughts and advice. You have helped me turn a seed into a great twisted tree with many branches. I love it! Love it!

[SaintAndSinner]

Do you know anyone in the Birmingham area running Dresden Files? A few local folks have expressed interest.