Stumped for a concept

[Tom Reed]

A friend of mine decided that he would try to run a Dresden Files game at the local store. For the last couple of week I have been trying to come up with a character idea. Last night was supposed to be city and character creation. We all decided on New Orleans post Katrina as the setting. Then we all started to work on character concepts...everyone but me. I sat at the table for almost two hours with an empty notebook staring me in the face while the other guys churned out page after page of stuff for their characters. This has never happened to me before. Up to now I have never had a problem with character ideas.  Right now I am wondering what to do. Does anyone have any good ideas on how I can get on track?

[deathwombat]

If you have read the books go back through them and look for inspiration
Think about what the game offers that no other game has offered you

[ralexs1991]

well what power level are you playing as

[Papa Gruff]

If you have read the books go back through them and look for inspiration
Think about what the game offers that no other game has offered you

lolz ... that was what I was going to say!

my advice to the OP would be to let yourself go creatively speaking. you wanna play a were-raccoon burglar? No problem! A giant with angle wings? Yeap can do! A scion of Shiva with four arms? Probably possible ...

... damn ... those are cool ideas ... hm ... I CALL DIBS!

[admiralducksauce]

Also, what are your fellow players playing?  Limiting your options can be a way of sparking creativity as well. 

[Tom Reed]

We are starting at chest deep, 8 refresh, 30 skill points.
IIRC, the other two characters are a were-raven type and a mortal (very intelligent) college student with money.
One idea I had is a cab driver of some sort, possibly with a supernatural power or item of power.
The other idea was an apprentice wizard who plays the harmonica. I know. pretty boring.
I'm reading Side Jobs right now, and am planning on rereading the earlier books for inspiration.

[MyNinjaH8sU]

Just to give an idea of range, I just started playing in a game the other day, and our group so far is as follows:

A 16th Century English rake with a propensity for dueling who stumbled through a portal to the modern day, meant to gate in a fallen angel to a cult. (Pure Mortal)

An Immortal Scribe of Thoth, egyptian god of knowledge and magic. He knew the aforementioned character from his original time, and they were surprised to meet again. Nearly unkillable, but with virtually no combat prowess, he simply regenerates and moves on. (Emissary of Power)

A Winter Knight named by Mother Winter herself, raised among the fae in the Nevernever. Taken to quoting Shakespeare and finding creative and artistic uses for his power. (ME!) (Knight of the Winter Court)

A modern day Greek Muse, named so by the actual muses and possible heir to the power of the old Oracles, she is watched over/challenged by Apollo. In love with the Winter Knight, and by her power keeps the gloom and dead of Winter from crushing his spirit. (DiY template, sharing some similarity to True Believer, but really her own thing)

Hope some of that sparks some ideas!

[Drashna]

Another idea is to take a look at the Generic NPC list. Lots of potential ideas there too.

[neko128]

A few random concepts.

1) A teenager who has run away from home from being ostracized, because she refused to give up her imaginary friends...  But the imaginary friends are actually ghosts, several of whom have been following her for years (Ghost Speaker, a really high Contacts)

2) An ex-merc...  From the revolutionary war.  A Hessian would work well for this.  He's immune to aging and regenerates, with fairly high martial skills.  Similar to the Scribe of Thoth in actual powers.

3) A wanderer or traveler.  Give him the...  What's the power, Worldwalker?  He became homeless at a relatively young age, and just started walking...  And it turns out, he's supernaturally good at travelling.  Make it more fun by not letting him *realize* he's been entering the Nevernever - just make him think he's been on Earth the entire time, and play it up as a weirdly questionable grasp on reality.

4) The Guardian of the Holy Grail.  An ancient night, bunch of Conviction powers, and one totally awesome Item of Power.  For bonus points, base him on the Indiana Jones mythology.

5) ...or, some random schlub who picked up the Holy Grail at a garage sale.  He now knows what he has, but is highly unconvinced of his own religious beliefs.  Hijinks ensue.

6) The Great And Powerful Turtle! ...Wait, you've never read Wild Cards?  Bah.  Well, he's the world's strongest telekinetic, but he has a mental block that only lets him use his powers when he's in a (self-made, with the help of a mechanic friend) shell he converted out of a car.  Super-hero type guy, but very naive.  Oh, and you would want to base his powers off Spellcasting for the effects.

7) Thor, with amnesia, and a day job at Home Depot (he works in the Tools department).

A were-Boa Constricter.

9) A Sphinx, cursed to be in human form.  (No, I have *no* idea what his powers would be like.  *none*.)

10) The Beast, from Beauty and the Beast (I'm partial to Villeneuve's version), if Belle never found him and instead he was the tragically cursed victim of a fairy who failed to seduce him and turned him into a monster when she couldn't.

11) A vampire hunter.  Give him a spiked chain whip, formed from one of the nails from Christ's cross and blessed by the church.  He could use Holy Water Grenades and a bladed throwing weapon shaped like a cross.   

[Tom Reed]

Thanks for all of the great ideas!

Papa Gruff, I like the idea of the were raccoon burglar.

Drahsna, the NPC list is a great help.

neko128, some of your ideas are really cool. I especially like the traveller and the shlub holder of the grail.
(And yes, I have read the Wild Cards books, just never thought of looking through them for inspiration.)

Once again, thanks for the help.
Tom

[neko128]

neko128, some of your ideas are really cool. I especially like the traveller and the shlub holder of the grail.
(And yes, I have read the Wild Cards books, just never thought of looking through them for inspiration.)

I was going to suggest Kid Dinosaur, but a were-tyrannosaurus rex is...  Well, odd.  :-P

[Bruce Coulson]

cribbed from Frits Leiber.

The Morphy Watch.  Item of power, found in the wreckage of a fine New Orleans mansion.  (Well, it was a fine place...many, many years ago.)  Grants Inhuman (or better) Speed, absolute time sense, limited precognition, and probably Supernatural Senses.  The owner also becomes obsessed with chess and haunted by the former owner(s).  (Paul Morphy was a long-time resident of New Orleans.)

[Becq]

11) A vampire hunter.  Give him a spiked chain whip, formed from one of the nails from Christ's cross and blessed by the church.  He could use Holy Water Grenades and a bladed throwing weapon shaped like a cross.   

Those nails are already in use.  Something about Swords and Crosses and such.  Ask Michael Carpenter about it.

How about the actual whip used to beat Christ, preserved through the centuries?

[Tbora]

According to Catholic Dogma their was a fourth nail used for the cross, so its entirely possible for a fourth none sword weapon to be running around

[Buscadera]

Or since you're in post-Katrina New Orleans, you could play a manic-depressive drug-addicted preternaturally lucky cop with a hooker girlfriend and a gambling problem. (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans; Nick Cage is at his best when he's playing an insane character. Otherwise he can be a bit silly.)

I keep a file with character concepts ready to go, just so that I've got them lying around (I've got between 30-45 right now). I also keep a separate file with characters I've 'Dresdenized' from everything from Star Ocean: The Second Story to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. That might be more than you're looking to do, but it certainly keeps you from being without a character concept.