A few questions

[Magickal_Grenadier]

First off, I got my physical copies of the books recently. -does the happy dance-

Now on to the actual point of this post. My D&D 3.5 group has expressed some interest in giving DFRPG a shot after me giving some explanation of what's going down in the Dresdenverse. None of them have read any of the books so, expect for myself, we'll be starting from the ground floor. I plan on running at least Night Fears to get them familiarized with the concept of Aspects, Stress and the conflict style if the game.

I was wondering what you guys think about a few things. I have one player who has expressed interest in setting the game in Shibuya prefecture in Japan but I know next to nothing about the area. I'm not sure if we should go straight for building our own city or if we should use Balitmore from Your Story.

[Taran]

I think doing city building is really useful for getting into the system and the setting.

If you go with baltimore I'd recommend that you get each player to add an NPC or two and maybe a location.  It'll immerse them into the city a bit.

If you don't go with baltimore, it might be easier to go with a city you know, but with most city building, google is your friend.  You can find out lots of cool stuff if you're using a city you're unfamiliar with and you'll probably end up researching even if you do use a city you're familiar with.  Lastly, when making a city from scratch you have complete creative license to add whatever you want even if it isn't in the real-life city you've chosen.  Put in what you like and leave out what you don't.  The important part is that the whole group participates.

[Cadd]

I'd generally recommend a city that you're all familiar with, that will make sure everyone can contribute to the city creation properly, and thus invest everyone in the game.
Having just one player be familiar with the chosen setting can lead to everyone basically "having to" check everything they suggest with one player, and might make it feel less engaging for the others. This of course depends on your group; you could do essentially a "Vancouver Method", with the one player that's familiar with it inserting a couple tidbits.

[JDK002]

Build your own city, it's a fantastic group exercise.  It will also give you insight to the kind of themes your group wants to explore.  It's probably best to use the city your group lives in if you're all still learning the game mehanics.  I suggest dedicating an entire session just for city and character creation.

[Sanctaphrax]

Play The World Ends With You.

It's a great game and it's set in Shibuya. Much more fun than proper research.

[Magickal_Grenadier]

So my group is meeting tomorrow for D&D. I'm going to take a poll to see whether the other players would want to go with Shibuya like one player does or if they would like to use Louisville, KY since we're all fairly familiar with it.

I'm not sure how many people will be playing though, it could be anywhere between two to four. Any last minute advise?