My sincerest advance apologies for my rambling verbosity.
So, my players and I are looking to take a break from 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons once we end our latest campaign. After mulling over our options, one of my players requested that I run a Dresden Files game. Those of us not entirely familiar with Dresden are already familiar with Spirit of the Century and FATE, so it's a go.
Now, I'm only partially familiar with the Dresdenverse... I've seen all twelve episodes of the television, and I've just begun reading the novels and the RPG books. Please, bear with me -- I'm catching up as fast as I can.
Anyway, I'm thinking over ideas and options I'd like to use for the campaign I intend to run. Firstly, we all lie on the suburban frontier of Chicago, and so we'd like to use Chicago as our city of choice. However, as with any game that based on an already established setting, that would feasibly put the player-characters directly into the shadows of the heroes of the novels the game is based on. As I'm trying to reconcile the problem without resorting to the usual tricks and cliches (No, they aren't proteges of Harry! And no, he's not missing so they have to go find him and rescue him!), a brilliant idea hits me...
Back in the late '80s, WEG published a Ghostbusters RPG, which I'd played a few times in junior high school. The premise of the game was that the original Ghostbusters created a corporation called Ghostbusters International and were selling franchises to people who wanted to start Ghostbusting in other cities. Why not use the same idea here? There's really nothing in Ghostbusters that contradicts anything in the Dresdenverse, and vice versa.
So, the conceit is that the Ghostbusters actually exist in Harry Dresden's world, they'd effectively be clued-in mortals, perhaps bordering on minor talents, but relying more on (pseudo)science than magic. My PCs would begin the game by opening a new Ghostbusters international franchise in Chicago, bringing them into direct (and open!) competition with Harry Dresden's business.
I'm really liking the idea of using Harry and Karrin as occasional rivals and foils with goals that are generally compatible with the PCs, but perhaps conflicting values and methods.
What do you guys think? Could it work?