Campaign Arc Endgame Advice/Suggestions for first-time GM in Magical Pittsburgh

[AgentSchneider]

Hey all! I'm a long time reader of the forums but this is my first actual post. My group started off playing a New Orleans game a few years ago but within the past few months I have been voraciously reading up into the rules and structures of the system and was inspired to whip up a side campaign to play that takes place in Pittsburgh (I go to school at West Virginia University, which is about an hour away, so a lot of us are somewhat familiar with the area). While I have most of the general ideas figured out, I'm trying to work really hard in the downtime we have to get a lot of the finer details figured out, including what the endgame for the campaign arc will be. This is my first time ever running a game campaign (which the DFRPG makes easier through the hefty player input) and so I come seeking some guidance, as I'm not sure if my current end-campaign idea is good, could use some work, or if it just sounds ridiculous.

Setting the scene:
Magical Pittsburgh:
Because the city is at the site of where the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers meet, they function as a natural threshold that surrounds the city proper. As a result, the city acts as a common supernatural dealing/bargaining site between factions. Additionally, the threshold acts to make the area more conducive to everyday mortals - the technological industry is able to boom more in Pittsburgh in part because of this latent repulsion of outward magical energies. The Unseelie Accords are still fairly in place, but Winter's influence in the area isn't very great so Pittsburgh skirts the boundaries more (falls on the scale more towards the Vegas setting from Paranet Papers than Chicago in terms of influence).

Timeline:
The story is taking place starting ~6 months after the events of Changes (so RCV's are out of the picture)

Major Players:
White Court Vampires:
Two minor offshoot families of WCV have set up shop in Pittsburgh over the past few decades: House Vakarian (Despair) and House Saless (Anger/Rage). Vakarianhelped to orchestrate the rise and fall of the steel industry in the city in order to gorge on the resulting despair felt by the steel workers and their families in the city proper and the surrounding steel towns (City Theme: Broken Steel...). Saless came around in the late 80's and has been in the shadow of House Vakarian, trying to establish MMA as a prominent industry, supporting professional football and hockey, and maintaining underground fight rings throughout the city. Over recent years the mood of the city has begun to change as industry has begun to return, so House Vakarian is looking to keep a grip on the power that is slowly beginning to slip through their grasps as hope begins to return to Pittsburgh (Theme:...But Not Broken People).
Brotherhood of Broken Steel (aka The Bobs)
Founded in the aftermath of the steel industry collapse, many former steel workers were saved from despair and taken in by the Slavic Diety of Light Bielebog (if anybody has read American Gods he shows up towards the end) who runs a place called "Bobby's House". They act as a mortal/minor practitioner "neighborhood watch" in the city proper using steel smithy hammers.
Chernobog: Slavic Diety of Darkness/Shadow (if you've read American Gods he is Mr. Wednesday's Slavic friend with the hammer)
Much like the Summer and Winter Court, Chernobog and Bielebog act as opposite forces of nature. While Bielebog is seen as "good" and Chernobog as "evil", Chernobog isn't inherently evil, he's just a force of nature that balances light and growth with darkness and decay. He has an Emissary who was a former mob snitch that he brought back to life who uses Sponsored Magic and a big ass sledgehammer.
The Fomor
In recent months they have been snatching people up along the riversides and taking them away for experiments. Because of their increased activity The Bobs have had to divert forces to actively combat them more often. Their end-goal is typical Fomor stuff (so who really knows lol?)
Wyldfae
While the Summer Court does have a fair amount of influence in the area (lots of parks and zoos nearby) and the Winter Court does have some sway in the area (although to a lesser extent), the old Appalachian and Native American folk tales surrounding Pittsburgh are very much alive and real and prominent. The hills and rivers around the area are heavily populated with the Wyldfae, but recently members of their clans are being abducted, taken away by an unknown group for an unknown purpose.
Red Court Vampires (or rather lack of Red Court Vampires)
The Reds had a pretty strong hold on the technological and medical industries in the city over the past century (although the Whites crippling the steel industry was a blow) and had plenty of people hooked on the Red Spit, so their disappearance has left an economic and supernatural power vacuum and plenty of (affluent) junkies trying to find a fix.
Kemmelarian Necomancer
As yet unintroduced. Has come to the city with a plan involved in the campaign end-game.

Sorry if that was too much info, but I figured it would help set the scene for the end-game. TL;DR summary is that House Vakarian (Despair WCV), Chernobog (Slavic darkness diety) and his Emissary, and the Kemmelarian Necromancer are all plotting together to perform a major ritual that uses the city's independence against it: a spell that would surround the area within the rivers in a barrier that blocks out sunlight and prevents magical incursion from outside the city boundaries and even from the NeverNever. The WCVs get to feed on the tasty despair that develops as a result, Chernobog promotes his agenda and stakes a claim in the city by drowning it in shadow, and the Necromancer sets himself up with a seat of power where he doesn't have to worry about his army being disbanded once the sun comes up (with the initial ritual turning out to have been provided by the Black Council if the PCs want to delve into the events further).

So does this just sound like a dumb idea or does it sound like a fun thing to oppose in a campaign? Obviously I can't talk about this with any of the players as it would spoil the story so I came here. If this seems like a ludicrous or boring idea another end-game theme that could be explored is our establishment of the idea that there is no Supernatural King of Pittsburgh and the power vacuum there. Thanks for anybody who read this and I appreciate any and all feedback!

[dragoonbuster]

Sounds cool to me. This is sort of similar to what happened in Season 4 on RagnarokNYC.

I admit I didn't read the entire description, but read about half and skimmed the rest, and saw your summary. Seems sound, just be flexible with the PCs. I've found players are pretty ingenious when it comes to ruining your NPC's plans.

My only question: why House Vakarian instead of Skavis, since they're already established as feeding off despair?

[wyvern]

That's an interesting end-game, but there's one piece that seems a bit off to me: mortals are the nuclear weapons of the supernatural world.  Doing something this blatant would all but force mortal involvement on a large scale.  Now, some of that can be explained with Black Council involvement - they don't seem to care what happens to their pawns as long as they can disrupt the status quo.

So I'd suggest changing it up just a bit: make the spell call up a layer of heavy clouds and thick fog - and have that include a mental fog effect as well, making it much harder for NPCs to realize just how long it's been since they saw the sun.  (Thinking a bit of the Dark City film, if you've seen that...)

That way, mortal authorities won't be instantly clued in that there's something really wrong going on.

[AgentSchneider]

Sounds cool to me. This is sort of similar to what happened in Season 4 on RagnarokNYC.

I tried to follow the link and I hit a brick wall, so I'll take your word on it. In summary what happened?

Seems sound, just be flexible with the PCs. I've found players are pretty ingenious when it comes to ruining your NPC's plans.

This has been my biggest problem thus far haha. I'm a very structured, rules-oriented person so having to be more flexible has been a challenge. In order to counter that I'm going to try and plan on what happens if they keep it from succeeding and what they have to do to stop it if the plan does succeed. My counter to PC craziness is to just do more planning and preparation in anticipation.

My only question: why House Vakarian instead of Skavis, since they're already established as feeding off despair?

I'm taking a lot of my inspiration for city creation from the Vegas section of Paranet Papers and they had a lesser despair WCV House in a prominent role so I figured doing that would fit the city more. Plus it keeps me from having to link them up with the Chicago Skavis and flavor them more to my style.

That's an interesting end-game, but there's one piece that seems a bit off to me: mortals are the nuclear weapons of the supernatural world.  Doing something this blatant would all but force mortal involvement on a large scale...
...So I'd suggest changing it up just a bit: make the spell call up a layer of heavy clouds and thick fog - and have that include a mental fog effect as well, making it much harder for NPCs to realize just how long it's been since they saw the sun.  (Thinking a bit of the Dark City film, if you've seen that...)
That way, mortal authorities won't be instantly clued in that there's something really wrong going on.

I had been wondering about how to deal with the mortal aspect of the city and have them not be freaking out and this seems like a great idea to solve that problem. Like you said mortals are the nukes of Dresden Files and if Pittsburgh is inherently a mortal-powerful city they would probably have more sway than say Chicago. Making it an effect of clouds and fog makes it seem natural (the mortal world wouldn't freak out as much if it was chalked up to a "weather anomaly") and adding the mental fog is a nice touch to keep only the PCs chugging along (and perhaps give them some compels to make things more difficult along the way)  .

[dragoonbuster]

I tried to follow the link and I hit a brick wall, so I'll take your word on it. In summary what happened?

There's a lot to it, and some I can't say because it's still being resolved, but basically: High-tech megacorporation used as a front by thirteen warlocks to throw off Wardens/White Council spent forty years setting up a global ritual, centered in New York. They made deals with Outsiders that helped them develop more advanced technology and give them power. In NY (and the greater eastern seaboard) they worked through shells in shells in shells, though an organization called Azalea, that basically did two things: steal a bunch of metaphysical links to NY and create large pools of Outsider-based energies, all to set up their main ritual, bringing over a butt-load of Outsiders to the world. This never came to be, thankfully, as the PC's stopped them in time. They...well, they weren't very discreet towards the end of their plan, primarily because they needed to instill fear into people to further the goal. Thankfully, the local in-the-know mortals used the media to play it off as animal escapes and terrorist attacks.

This has been my biggest problem thus far haha. I'm a very structured, rules-oriented person so having to be more flexible has been a challenge. In order to counter that I'm going to try and plan on what happens if they keep it from succeeding and what they have to do to stop it if the plan does succeed. My counter to PC craziness is to just do more planning and preparation in anticipation.

Well, compels can be an excellent mechanic for this. But frankly--your plan doesn't have to be what happens. Ultimately, the goal here is to collaboratively build a story. If it screws up your plans but the story's great, then go for it! And then invent something else. I've found PCs often leave a lot of room for unintended fallout from their actions, which is great for generating more role-playing hooks.

[Sanctaphrax]

Sounds good to me.

If you're looking for suggestions...since you have an endgame in mind, it's probably worth laying the groundwork for it throughout the game. Ritual preparations can be going on in the background while other stuff is happening.

[AgentSchneider]

There's a lot to it, and some I can't say because it's still being resolved, but basically: High-tech megacorporation used as a front by thirteen warlocks to throw off Wardens/White Council spent forty years setting up a global ritual, centered in New York. They made deals with Outsiders that helped them develop more advanced technology and give them power. In NY (and the greater eastern seaboard) they worked through shells in shells in shells, though an organization called Azalea, that basically did two things: steal a bunch of metaphysical links to NY and create large pools of Outsider-based energies, all to set up their main ritual, bringing over a butt-load of Outsiders to the world. This never came to be, thankfully, as the PC's stopped them in time. They...well, they weren't very discreet towards the end of their plan, primarily because they needed to instill fear into people to further the goal. Thankfully, the local in-the-know mortals used the media to play it off as animal escapes and terrorist attacks.

This actually sounds like the general idea of what I wanted to do (albeit with more planning and a finished overall plot) so thanks for summarizing it up, it really helped. I think this will help me to steer my overall idea. I was talking it over with my co-GM and we came up with the idea that the fog ritual would be masked by the accumulation over several months/years of smog and pollution around the city and pollution of the rivers as a result of White Court influence in the EPA and local natural gas corporations (this would also tie in to one of the PC's background as a pseudo-Wyldfae who is the son of an eco-friendly CEO in the area).

But frankly--your plan doesn't have to be what happens. Ultimately, the goal here is to collaboratively build a story. If it screws up your plans but the story's great, then go for it! And then invent something else.

Based on my own RP'ing experiences, I can attest to how sideways GM plans can go haha. For right now I'm just trying to get an idea for what the end game will be so that I can lay down some groundwork in case I need to come up with some alternatives. That way I can come up with some fun encounters and story hooks throughout the bulk of the campaign for the PC's to experience.

If you're looking for suggestions...since you have an endgame in mind, it's probably worth laying the groundwork for it throughout the game. Ritual preparations can be going on in the background while other stuff is happening.

Thanks for your input as well Sanctaphrax! I'm going to take your idea of the ritual preparations going on in the background while they deal with some red herrings and B-plots going on in the city at the forefront. I feel like this would be the best way to achieve the end-goal that I had in mind as I can be dropping clues throughout the campaign and have the PC's mess with the bad guys' plans without even realizing what they are doing. My thought is that doing it this way makes it so that when the final confrontation goes down I can plan for the PC's either succeeding at preventing the ritual and what happens after or the ritual succeeding and what the PC's have to do in the aftermath in order to save the city.

Once again thanks for all of the feedback from everyone thus far!

[dragoonbuster]

This actually sounds like the general idea of what I wanted to do (albeit with more planning and a finished overall plot) so thanks for summarizing it up, it really helped. I think this will help me to steer my overall idea. I was talking it over with my co-GM and we came up with the idea that the fog ritual would be masked by the accumulation over several months/years of smog and pollution around the city and pollution of the rivers as a result of White Court influence in the EPA and local natural gas corporations (this would also tie in to one of the PC's background as a pseudo-Wyldfae who is the son of an eco-friendly CEO in the area).

I realized I accidentally mixed together parts of S3 and S4. Azalea and whatnot was all S4; they didn't steal any ritual links but just caused chaos while working to set their final ritual up.

Now, Season 3--that was a trio of warlocks and their underlings/hirelings/thralls stealing links to New York and creating necromantic pools of energy. They needed a link to sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, water, earth, fire, air, spirit, mind, and soul. The end-goal was to perform a giant ritual on the Autumnal Equinox that would siphon away a large portion of power from Faerie. They would use this power to turn themselves into god-like beings, and the remaining portion to erect a Barrier around the greater New York area that was impenetrable from the mundane world or the NeverNever. Thankfully, the PCs stopped the ritual in-process.

Of course...a few weeks later, on Halloween, they woke up three years in the future, where time had been altered slightly by a different Warlock so the bad guys had actually won. That was a WHOLE other story...they got back to their time and killed the Warlock "before" he messed with time, but now some of my PCs have three years worth of memories of a war that never happened.

[dragoonbuster]

Double post.

That's an interesting end-game, but there's one piece that seems a bit off to me: mortals are the nuclear weapons of the supernatural world.  Doing something this blatant would all but force mortal involvement on a large scale.  Now, some of that can be explained with Black Council involvement - they don't seem to care what happens to their pawns as long as they can disrupt the status quo.

I would like to add to this a bit. Good point from wyvern--but depending on what you want to do at the end, you could have the mortal world find out about the supernatural. It'd just be very different than mortals not "waking up." We're kinda reaching this point in RNYC, to the degree that there's a PC or two actively working to smooth this transition by opening people's minds to the supernatural before it's truly revealed in whole.

[AgentSchneider]

I realized I accidentally mixed together parts of S3 and S4. Azalea and whatnot was all S4; they didn't steal any ritual links but just caused chaos while working to set their final ritual up.

Now, Season 3--that was a trio of warlocks and their underlings/hirelings/thralls stealing links to New York and creating necromantic pools of energy. They needed a link to sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, water, earth, fire, air, spirit, mind, and soul. The end-goal was to perform a giant ritual on the Autumnal Equinox that would siphon away a large portion of power from Faerie. They would use this power to turn themselves into god-like beings, and the remaining portion to erect a Barrier around the greater New York area that was impenetrable from the mundane world or the NeverNever. Thankfully, the PCs stopped the ritual in-process.

This sounds almost exactly along the lines of what I would want to do with it. Do you happen to remember a few examples of the symbolic links that they used so that I could have an example to model mine after? Seeing as how Summer is more influential in Pittsburgh in my interpretation it could make sense that they would be stealing power from them or maybe stealing it from a natural leyline in the area (which I could establish as being a thing).

I would like to add to this a bit. Good point from wyvern--but depending on what you want to do at the end, you could have the mortal world find out about the supernatural. It'd just be very different than mortals not "waking up." We're kinda reaching this point in RNYC, to the degree that there's a PC or two actively working to smooth this transition by opening people's minds to the supernatural before it's truly revealed in whole.

Hmm that is an interesting perspective that I wouldn't have thought about. Maybe depending on how well the PCs do at wrecking plans it could influence whether or not the mortal world would be tipped off to the presence of the supernatural (worse symbolic links would keep more mortals aware if the ritual were to go off). Personally I'm not a huge fan of the idea of knowledge of the supernatural going mainstream as I feel like it is very contrary to the overall approach in the books, but I could see it being a good RPing opportunity. Plus it'd be a good way to keep the PCs on the ropes trying to figure out what to do next haha.

[dragoonbuster]

Do you happen to remember a few examples of the symbolic links that they used so that I could have an example to model mine after?

Here are a few off the top of my head:

- Lightning rods from the Chrysler Building (Air)
- Sound of screams of pain inside Carnegie Hall
- Skull of a former mob accountant/shill for the White Court who died in 9/11 (smell; they took it from Fresh Kills....google Fresh Kills New York for more info.)
- A phoenix egg from a wyldfae's fight club (Fire)
- Kidnapping (and later ritual sacrifice) of Dr. Richard Kimble, heart surgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital for Heart (I didn't realize I copied the Fugitive character until after the fact )
- Kidnapping (and later sucked-up-the-lifeforce-from) of Elena, the Living Dead Girl (Face of one of New York's ANG) (Earth)

There was always at least one backup symbol they'd steal too; some of this list were actually backups. Usually the main group of NPCs went after their primary choice and a few other NPCs went for a secondary...it took the PCs a while to catch on to this, and by then there were tertiary links being stolen too....so the Bad Guys did in fact always wind up getting one of each symbol.