Keep us posted on how it goes!!
Ok!
We started with the city last night. I gave my boys a choice, and we went with our home town of San Antonio.
So, I explained them the idea of themes and threats for a city, and the difference between a game-city and the real one.
So, my 8 yr old son said he wanted there to be a dragon, underwater, in a cage, and people were trying to break him free! I explained that dragons are evil, and he said, "Ok, then it's bad people trying to break him out!"
I then asked my oldest son what he wanted, and he said "A group of magical, intelligent, lions on fire, that also breathe fire, attacking the army!" Well, there are a number of Air Force bases in the area, so... I asked him which was the evil side, and he said originally the air force, as he wanted to play the lion, but he also wanted to play a Champion of God (he loved the picture of Michael on the front cover), so he changed his mind and went with the lions being evil.
I then explained that these are long term things that don't get settled overnight, so to speak. They were cool with it, so I defined the first as a city threat: The Scales of War aspect (heh, ripped from the adventure path
for, uh, Pathfinder or D&D 4e I think?), and defined it as opposing factions looking to free (or keep imprisoned) a dragon underwater. I'll explain the underwater part in a minute.
With the whole magical flaming lion thing, I'm not sure what to do. He originally wanted the air force evil, and I was going to have the air force being infiltrated, but he changed his mind this morning. Then again, being children, black and white is easier at this age. So, I'm going to define it as some clued-in mortals, including some mid-level officers, who know something of what's going on, but don't have enough clout to be taken seriously. Maybe a few military versions of Karrin Murphy. I'm not sure about the lions, but I thought probably Fae, Summer Fae (not sure why they are "at war" yet though), though I suppose I could make them Werelions with some magical talents towards fire as well?
I then defined the third originally as an attempt by magical beings to take over the military/industrial complex in the area, since there is so much of it. That was before my son switched the lions to evil instead of good, and visa versa. Then again, both sides could be evil I suppose. Again, black and white will work best for them at this age I think, but that doesn't mean I can't have two evil sides fighting.
We then listed a dozen locations, skipping faces and other things for now. I'm sort of skipping around to fit their kinds of interests, going in and filling in the parts I know they either won't be terribly interested in or will be a bit hard for them to grasp currently. San Antonio is ripe with lots of large public locations. They chose which ones they wanted to be threats vs themes, without defining what the themes or threats are for the moment. They kind of understand defining threats, but they are having a harder time grasping themes, so I may have to step in for the themes.
So far we chose:
1. the Riverwalk (one possible location for the dragon - they want this to be a theme area though).
2. Seaworld and Schlitterbauhn - The San Antonio Seaworld is the biggest water exhibit in the world - until 2011, when one in Japan opens up that will dwarf this one. Schlitterbauhn is one of the biggest and best waterparks in the world. These two would also be a great place for the dragon, and they want this to be a threat.
3. Tower of the Americas - threat
4. Randolph Air Force Base - threat
5. The alamo - theme
6. Natural Caverns - a large cavern complex that are given tours. Next to a drive-through safari. Threat
7. Witte Musuem - a nifty museum, just had a dinosaur exhibit leave and now has "backyard monsters" about insects - have statues of insects larger than humans. Theme. Could be a secret meeting place for clued-in mortals or something.
8. Alamo Dome - theme
9. Brackenridge Park and the San Antonio Zoo - a decent zoo, and a huge park spread out throughout the place, with a river winding through it, bridges, etc. Threat.
10. Other air force bases in the area?
11. Our church, the Community Bible Church - a nice huge church, but kinda weirded me out the first time we went. It had police officers directing traffic, tvs everywhere, the various day care and childrens bible classes had people with wireless bluetooth earpieces talking to each other, computer setupts everywhere. It looked more like a business, a well-organized one, than a church, and has two coffee and breakfast burrito shops. They almost never talk about money, and don't even pass around a donation plate either. It occurs to me I could have them so well-organized because they are either militant fighters of the dark... or in actuality an evil organization in disguise (though I suspect the former is better, my sons may not understand that theme at this age).
12. There are lots of missionaries, old ones from the glory days of "Gold, God, and Glory," of the spanish conquistadors, as well as lots of catholic churches. I will probably do something with those as well.
The list goes on and on. S.A. has so many interesting things here, things going on, etc. At the same time, it has interstates going back and forth through its heart, that even though its greater S.A. has two million people, it has a small town feel - traffic is only REALLY bad when there is an accident or during the end of work on a holiday or something, otherwise, though 5 pm traffic does slow down, it is nowhere near as bad as many cities of comparable size. Though there are so many criss-crossing over- and underpasses that it confuses most GPSes on where you are when you hit those areas.
There arent a lot of local urban legends, but there are a few. The most common one concerns a railroad where supposedly a busfull of children were killed when the bus stalled on the railroad tracks, and now supposedly when a car stalls on those tracks, the ghosts of the children push the bus off the tracks. In truth, there was no accident, it was made up to explain why cars that sit on those tracks will slowly roll off of them, when the land appears flat. In truth, it has a very mild grade, but so mild its almost impossible to see... but just enough to slowly have the car roll off of it.
There's also the Donkey Lady (and the Donkey Lady Bridge) which I haven't read much about yet, the Chupacabra, the Nazi Farm, the Midget Mansion, the Black Swan Inn (supposedly haunted by native american indian ghosts), and an abandoned mental institution - none of the above that I've read much about yet - and the weird story of an entire huge hotel that was moved on wheels from one location to another in one piece (thats a true story too, actually, the Fairmont Hotel, and was at the time in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest structure ever moved on wheels - at least, at the time, I'm not sure if it's been beaten since then. That was in 1985 I think).
Anyway, so I'm going to do some research on those urban legends, and will have to think about what to do about these themes and threats my boys wanted, as well as what to do with the citywide ideas my boys had.
In the meantime, my oldest wants to play a Champion of God - primarily because he likes the look of Michael on the front cover of the book. My youngest son wanted to play a wizard at first, but I explained it was probably a bit too complex at the moment, and after considering his threat of the dragon he explained, I suggested Emisssary of Power, and basically be a Weredragon, taking Wings, Breath attack, huge, claws, mark of power, human form, etc. He got REALLY excited about that.
I explained to him that would mean that the bad guy that gave him his power would try and make him do bad things sometime, explained it as if it was kind of like mind control, and that he would be going, "No, you're evil, one day I'll get you!" He said that sounded cool, hehe!
So, that's where we stand as of this morning.
