New Orleans a city of Change (my PCs stay out please)

[MWKilduff]

I am running a rather dark game for my PC's that is going to set most of their teeth on edge and hopefully inflame their passions.  I was hoping to gather some outside ideas of dark situations and scenes to have my PC's experience.  I am going to have some civilians die due to incompetence and some of these are seriously innocents such as children.  But I want a real world feel, so variety is going to drive home the dark feeling best.  Please put forth some deeply dark ideas.

[Mr. Death]

Well, kind of depends on who the supernatural players are going to be. What're the major factions?

[Vargo Teras]

New Orleans should be chock-full of White Court vampires, particularly Raiths.  The Summer Court is likely stronger than the Winter, but there may be significant Wyldfae players, possibly those more associated with water.  Either of those could easily be involved in schemes that will put children in harm's way.

[Mr. Death]

New Orleans should be chock-full of White Court vampires, particularly Raiths.

In that case, kidnapping, rape, mental enslavement is the way to to if you wanna play the White Court to its hilt.

The Summer Court is likely stronger than the Winter, but there may be significant Wyldfae players, possibly those more associated with water.  Either of those could easily be involved in schemes that will put children in harm's way.

Hm, yes. You could play into the original definition of "changeling". While Dresden uses it to mean a half-fae, it originally referred to the Fae switching their young and kidnapping human children. For what purpose? That would be up to you.

[Haru]

When I think of New Orleans, I think of music. And in combination with something weird, I have to think of Pied Piper of Hamelin, a german legend.

Ok, basically music or a musician that is using the music to influence people/things. Some ideas:
- a brand new song that is played by a lot of artists throughout town. The music is intended to weaken the barrier to the nevernever and lure some critters into this world. Nobody is really sure where the music sheets actually came from
- a wildfae street musician going around grabbing children like the piper
- an evil sorcerer that taps into the emotions created by music, trying to power an enormous spell at a large concert (while trying it on smaller locations first, so the PC get a chance to get on his trail)
- Some musicians that have a similar gig as the ones in Maeve's lair in Summer Knight, only they play for their regular audience and drop dead on stage.

[Mr. Death]

Hell, Mardi Gras would be a great excuse for any number of hedonistic, amoral Fae, old gods and other entities to show up, go wild, and cause all manner of harm to all manner of innocent people.

Two words: The Bacchae.

[MWKilduff]

All great ideas so far.  I have a fair amount of these ideas already incorporated in the background of the city.  I lived in NO growing up so I have also incorporated Voodoo and local legends like the Swamp Cats, these a swamp panthers that are suppose to be neigh impossible to see and in the Dresden universe they are were-panthers; the Honey Island Swamp Monster, who is suppose to be a mix of all kinds of swamp creatures with the size of a black bear, the head of an owl scales like a gator and covered in moss while in the Dresden Universe this legend is based on a local sorcerer that specializes in shapeshifting; and the Raiths are pretty big players in the city but they are feeling some muscle from Malvora since the Hurricane Katrina.  Haru, great idea with the music.  I will play with that and see what I come up with for my game.  Thanks and keep em coming.

[Richard_Chilton]

If you want darkness linked to the real world - there's the police.

Do a quick online search for New Orleans police and you'll find stories of corruption and routine abuse of authority.  It may have changed a bit since they made "The Big Easy" but there's still an unhealthy culture in parts of the department.

They have also played tricks to get their numbers looking good.  At one time it was virtually impossible to get a murder investigation started unless you had the body.  You could have reports of guns being fired at a hotel leading police to a bullet ridden, blood splattered hotel room, and if the body wasn't there it was put down as a missing persons case.  Worse, if the victim was tourist the police wouldn't really look for the "missing person" because they might have just left early and gone missing on their way home (outside of their jurisdiction).

Why treat an obvious killing as a missing persons case? To keep the homicide rate down.   The police down there did that for years until the folks who collect the crime statistics forced a change.

I'm not saying that all the cops down there are corrupt bullies, but when you look at the high ranking officers being named in complaints (and often convicted) it's clear that they have problems that go beyond the occasional bad apple.


Of course, in your game a corrupt police force could be at the beck and call of any faction, or maybe different parts work for different factions.  And maybe those "missing person" reports were the local Black Cats' (or SI) way of covering up the messes left behind by various supernatural predators or even an "IT" cycle of violent killings that happen every X years.  Having a cop coming forward Deep Throat style to tell the PCs "it's not what you think - Blah is happening again and this time the police can't handle it" could be a good lead into a new plot arc.

Richard

[MWKilduff]

If you want darkness linked to the real world - there's the police.
Richard

You know, I sometimes forget the simple things.  Yeah, NOPD has a pretty bad reputation in general.  I am certainly going to put this in the game.

And, a side note since I was born and raised there.  NO would be a cess pool without the police and their extreme methods.  I may not agree with them but I understand them.  NOPD had been losing more cops on duty than any other precinct.  Sheriff Harry Lee stepped up and called for more "proactive" force.  It has been like that since then and I hate to say it but that city needs that kind of aggressive police force.  It is the reason that police districts from around the US send their police to NO for riot training.

[MWKilduff]

No one got any other ideas?

[Becq]

What if Katrina wasn't an act of nature?  Perhaps the hurricane -- and all of the damage and suffering it caused -- was either an intentional part of or a side effect of an ascension ritual?  (Perhaps one that worked...)

[Haru]

Or the other way around: the hurricane was the only way that the ritual could be stopped, washing the magic away in one big swoop. I am not sure how to make a story out of it though. Maybe some water based fae?

[Richard_Chilton]

Perhaps the flooding washed away some spells (bindings?) that had been there since French times.  Better yet - weakened them to the point that they are about to fail.

Or perhaps there's something in the city that has been there since French times - an abomination made on Haiti that travelled to the city with French refugees from the slave uprising in Haiti?

Richard

[Haru]

Perhaps the flooding washed away some spells (bindings?) that had been there since French times.  Better yet - weakened them to the point that they are about to fail.

Uh, I love that. Complementing that an idea I had for something different: similar to the shide queens, there is a group of 3 people who are responsible for maintaining a binding of some sort. The three are the mentor, the binder and the apprentice. The binder does the actual binding, most of the time, the mentor is the old binder that is now teaching the apprentice. In a catastrophe, in this case the hurricane, Mentor and Binder die, leaving a young apprentice to take care of the bindings, a job he isn't qualified to do yet. Add to that the weakening of the binding spells by the flood, and you have something to work with.

[MWKilduff]

That is great!  Force the White Council to accept more responsibility or look like total tools to the PC's, some of which are Wardens.  It is one of the undercurrents I have been putting into my game.  I love it!  Keep em coming guys!