Need campaign advice

[blackstaff67]

My game is just getting off the ground.  I have 4-6 players in the group; it's a good group.  My concern is the fact that in the group of were, wizards, and valkyries, I will also have two Vanilla Mortals: one police officer, one mercenary a la "The Transporter."  TO be honest, I've never run a game with 'nilla mortals, much less two of them.  Any thoughts to keep in mind?

[Shaft]

It depends on the role that the Pure Mortals fill in the party. 

I find that casters tend to spend their highest skill slots on Conviction, Discipline and Lore, so their combat skills (Athletics, Fists/Guns/Weapons) and Social Skills (Rapport, Empathy, Presence, Intimidation), tend to be lower.  Pure Mortals can't sling spells, but they have better options to shoot, punch, charm, have more contacts and/or be wealthy with a decent Resources skill.

There are two Pure Mortals in the current Montreal-based game I'm in, along with a Gargoyle (a la Disney cartoon), a White Council Warden, a Summer Court Changeling (modeled on Poison Ivy from Batman), and a Svartálfar Dwarf blacksmith that can craft magical items.

My character is a former SWAT cop turned detective, so he's got a focus on combat skills (Guns, Athletics and Fists at Great or Superb and technology skills (Hacker and Demolitions stunt).  He has access to some decent firepower (body armor, fully-automatic rifles) when he needs it, and while he isn't as powerful in a hand to hand fight as the Gargoyle, or as powerful as the Warden's Force 4 to 6 evocations spells, he rounds out the team.

The other Mortal in the group is a coroner, and while he isn't as combat capable as my detective, his lore, knowledge, social, contacts and investigation skills are impressive.  In many ways, he's functions like Giles did in Buffy, where he either already knows or can easily find out what we're up against.  Technically,  though, he's no longer a Pure Mortal sicne he was given an Item of Power as a Gift (a pair of sais that improves his HtH melee skill and lets him speak to Ghosts).  He's not that great in combat, but the player is pretty resourceful and finds ways to use the environment to his advantage (not to mention the Fate Points he gets from the higher Refresh that he has compared to the rest of us).

I really like having Pure Mortals in the group and find that it adds to the sense of discovery about the supernatural.

[Lawgiver]

It depends on the role that the Pure Mortals fill in the party. 

I find that casters tend to spend their highest skill slots on Conviction, Discipline and Lore, so their combat skills (Athletics, Fists/Guns/Weapons) and Social Skills (Rapport, Empathy, Presence, Intimidation), tend to be lower.  Pure Mortals can't sling spells, but they have better options to shoot, punch, charm, have more contacts and/or be wealthy with a decent Resources skill.

There are two Pure Mortals in the current Montreal-based game I'm in, along with a Gargoyle (a la Disney cartoon), a White Council Warden, a Summer Court Changeling (modeled on Poison Ivy from Batman), and a Svartálfar Dwarf blacksmith that can craft magical items.

My character is a former SWAT cop turned detective, so he's got a focus on combat skills (Guns, Athletics and Fists at Great or Superb and technology skills (Hacker and Demolitions stunt).  He has access to some decent firepower (body armor, fully-automatic rifles) when he needs it, and while he isn't as powerful in a hand to hand fight as the Gargoyle, or as powerful as the Warden's Force 4 to 6 evocations spells, he rounds out the team.

The other Mortal in the group is a coroner, and while he isn't as combat capable as my detective, his lore, knowledge, social, contacts and investigation skills are impressive.  In many ways, he's functions like Giles did in Buffy, where he either already knows or can easily find out what we're up against.  Technically,  though, he's no longer a Pure Mortal sicne he was given an Item of Power as a Gift (a pair of sais that improves his HtH melee skill and lets him speak to Ghosts).  He's not that great in combat, but the player is pretty resourceful and finds ways to use the environment to his advantage (not to mention the Fate Points he gets from the higher Refresh that he has compared to the rest of us).

I really like having Pure Mortals in the group and find that it adds to the sense of discovery about the supernatural.

That's some good info.  I'd also include skills like Investigation, Intimidation as well as things like Drive and Survival. Those last two get overlooked a lot as trivial or mostly unnecessary in a dense urban setting. But there's ways of approaching those that an make them very useful... like with Drive... you don't just out-race cops or enemies... you know the streets and all the short-cuts -- so you can get the vehicle from A to B much faster than others by avoiding lights, known bottlenecks, etc.; you're familiar with the flows during morning and evening 'rush hour' and which roads to avoid, which areas are under repair, and which neighborhoods one just does Not go into under any circumstances. Pair that sort of thing with Contacts and maybe something like Deceit and/or Guns and you have a potentially very useful member of the group.

[Bunston]

You could also create situations where using supernatural powers could be problematic, allowing the mortals a time to shine. Or you can simply center a scene around them. Perhaps one of the cop's buddies gets kidnapped, or the Transporter runs up against an old rival.

I also agree with Shaft and Lawgiver that what mortals lack in pure oomph, they usually make up with knowledge and creativity (and big guns).

[Haru]

What exactly is your concern? That they won't get enough screentime? That they will be too squishy?

Well, for one, they can get their hands on all kinds of weapons that supernatural folk simply won't think about. Nothing quite spoils your fun than a couple of mortals going bolshevik muppet on your ass. You can also allow them to get some decent mortal armor. I've granted an armor:2 for good military gear, I think, that could help with the squishy problem.

And being human might actually be to their advantage in some instances. Remember that bringing in mortals to a supernatural conflict is considered the nuclear option. So having 2 mortal witnesses might mean that some supernaturals will restrain themselves to not make the two mortals go "ok, this is bad, better call the cavalry". And all that without being part of any signator to the accords, which can give them a lot of freedom, depending on the situation.

Then mortals are great for research. With a networks of people to contact or just using wikipedia, you can get a lot of information. Harry summoned a demon for information he could have gotten from wikipedia. And the internet. Post a question on half a dozen forums and watch the information pour in. That's a lot of power right there. You need to know how to use it, but that's always the trick.

Oh, and mortals can retreat rather easily. Have a fight somewhere? You don't need to get far away from the supernatural bad guy, you just have to get somewhere public. If they don't want the mortals to go apeshit on them, they will stop the pursuit.

[toturi]

Oh, and mortals can retreat rather easily. Have a fight somewhere? You don't need to get far away from the supernatural bad guy, you just have to get somewhere public. If they don't want the mortals to go apeshit on them, they will stop the pursuit.

I assume that you are talking about Pure Mortals when you say "mortal". I disagree with the assertion that Pure Mortals can retreat rather easily. They can retreat easily with their FP fuelled declarations, but they do not and should not have it any easier than a wizard or any of the human looking supernatural folks. Taking it public simply means some guy in a Halloween getup and high on drugs laid the smackdown on your puny mortal ass. Supernats can also have access to the kinds of weapons that mortals can have - the books have faeries with guns. Bringing in the mortal authorities is going nuclear, bringing in mortals is bringing party favors. And the problem with the Internet is separating the wheat from the chaff. Sure, all sorts of material come pouring in, but a lot of crap gets in too and there are trolls. Internet trolls.
My point is that a supernat should be no less able than some Pure Mortal with the same level of skill. Wizards are a special case, in the game world, they hex - that's their drawback. But the Winter Lady used her cell phone just fine.

[blackstaff67]

It'
ll be a tough go.  While almost the entire group is experienced RPGers, almost all are relatively new at the game.  Four have had three sessions under their belts, while the other two will have their first this Sunday...and they are the ones running VMs. 
Honestly, I think my best bet is for them to show up at the same time on the scene for mutually supporting firepower and gradually add the other PCs--kinda like making a cake.  You start with your basic batter of eggs, flour and milk, and then add the special ingredients.