Alternate Locations for Dresden RPGs

[R00kie]

Jim has done an incredible job of exploring creature of legend, and appears to have examined almost every creature or monster we've heard of since childhood. The stories cover the Faerie Courts, Vampires, Werewolves, Ogres, Trolls, Holy Knights, Demons, Dragons, Outsiders, Fallen Angels and Wizards. The question is if you want to make the world your own, what is left to explore?


One option discussed in the "Alternate Time Periods for Dresden RPGs" thread is move the campaign to anothere time, but how about simply moving it to another City? How about moving it to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bejing or even Pyongyang. There's a full set of Eastern legends and so far Jim hasn't explored them (much). Why not take them and make them your own for your campaign.


You can use some of the ammunition Jim's given you. Maybe whichever city you've chosen is Ancient Mai's home ground. He's mentioned the Jade Court but we don't know very much about them. You can decide what they are like. As for the NeverNever - presumably this would have a very Oriental feel to it.


Hey presto, you have a Dresden Campaign in a city with a very different feel and a whole new set of legends.


If you don't like that you could try the Middle east. Again you get a whole new set of legends. Maybe now Djinn play a bigger role. There's no shortage of legends from Arabia, Persia, and India. You can fill your campaign with djinni and magic carpets. In this case your source is Islamic legends and of course 'the Thousand and One Nights'.


Or you could look to pretty much any other culture. Maybe South America and Mayan legends, although that might take a little research. Egypt might not be a good choice - you might end up with a campaign that felt like a Dresden / Stagate SG-1  crossover, but almost any Culture you pick will come with a set of creature, legends and myths.


Personally I'm more likely to try a Hong Kong themed version because I've been there, and a I have a huge collection of Jackie Chan and John Woo movies for inspiration. I might steal the ocational Japanese legend and hope my players dont notice, but I'll try to stick to Chinese mythology (and there is more than enough). I'll place Mai far enough away to make sure she's not a majort sticking point, but near enough that she can come when the players mess up (either to clean up their mess, or to act threatening on behalf of the council, depending on what the situation demands). Your mileage may vary. Perhaps you're a fan of the Arabian nights, or like Manga, in which case the Middle East or Japan might suit you better.


The other obvious location is your local town. Unless you live in Chicago you should be able to research what makes your town unique and emphasise this enough to make your setting unique. Unfortuantely for me one of my players is an academic at the local University and a historian. He has a better understanding of the local area than anyone else I know, and has worked virtually every legend about the area into atleast one of his campaigns. I'd feel like I was treading on well covered ground if I tried this technique. I'm going to leave all local stuff to him.


No the question that flows from that is with other cultures as the basis of the stories, should we still be using the Western image of the mage? Magic in other culture comes with its own set of baggage, and it may not be sensible to saddle your campaign with the Western mage image - but If we change that, are we still playing Dresden?

[finarvyn]

Some good ideas, and the folks at EVIL HAT are a step ahead of you.

The "default" setting for the DFRPG will be Baltimore, so as to not conflict with Jim's pre-existing characters and storyline.

The playtesters are tinkering with guidelines as to how to "Dresdenify" other cities and at this point there are a dozen or more cities other than Chicago or Baltimore being fleshed out by playtesters.

[R00kie]

Yeah, I found the write ups of Austin, Newark and Winnipeg. I've got to say I am very impressed by all three. I am incredibly curious as to how a non-western city write-up might look, which is why I suggested the above cities.

I initially thought I'd like to set my future Dresden campaign in either Hong Kong or Singapore.

• If I went with Hong Kong I had the clash of the English heritage with the Chinese ownership, and the clash of Democracy and Capitalism with Communism as a backdrop. The city is an incredibly vibrant place. In addition I have the full depth of Chinese mythology to draw on, and lots of Hong Kong cinema.
• If I went with Singapore I had the clash of a predominately Buddist/Taoist state with the surrounding Muslim states envious of their economic success. Singapore is literally surrounded by Muslim counries and faces constant terrorist threats posed by the Jemaah Islamiyah groups. In addition I could build on the conflict between old Malasian and new Singapore culture, and the Malay underclass within Singapore.

Unfortunately its pretty apparent that Singapore just isnt going to work for a Dresden setting. The city is too clean, too organised and too boyant. Singapore is clearly a city still on the rise, and doesnt seem to have the decadence and corruption neccessary for a Dresden campaign.

Its likely that by the time the game comes out my thoughts mght have changed but at the moment Hong Kong looks really good. In fact it looks good enough that I might just ask my group if they fancy a quick brainstorming session. I may not have the Alpha rules, but its pretty clear from the three write ups the sort of things they've been asking the play testers to think about.

[Wolfhowls]

I think some eastern block countries would be cool.

Like Yugoslavia, Poland and the Czech. Republic.

A city that would be cool to see game information for would be St. Petersburg.

[Lizard King]

Something my gaming group has done, when it's appropriate or possible, is place the game in our own town, (the Quad Cities, only 3 hours west of Chicago).  It's large enough to have some fun settings in it, and we KNOW it.  It gives a great, concreteness to descriptions and a great point of reference. 

[Murphy's Stunt Double]

I think Detroit would be an excellent choice for a Dresden to down a major resurgence of Black Court Vampires.... or Skavis. And before you go there, I'm not suggesting Black Court because of the racial makeup of the city. Detroit is a wasteland full of the strongest and most cunning monsters in the world that mainly come out at night. It's also very oppressed by an all-pervading sense of despair.

Just a simple google search for the latest news on our despicable mayor should turn up all kinds of inspiration for Blacks or Reds in city politics.

[R00kie]

Hmm.. somehow I feel what I hoped would be my main point seems to have got lost. It probably comes down to the way I wrote it, and the lack of emphasis in my original post.

I was trying to point out that the Dresden files is very much based in Western Legends, and that be relocating to a non-western setting you have a very different campaign. As such I was hoping to point out the huge impact of culture on the very nature of the supernatural threat in a Dresden campaign.

In fact basing your campaign on Oriental or Middle Eastern legends would probably have as big an impact on the campaign as setting it in another time period.

[Oren]

My advice on this situation is to set the game in a City that you know fairly well. The Dresden Files are all about Chicago and the stuff inside it, and you're going to need to be at least somewhat familiar with the place in question or you'll lose that feeling and the Players may end up feeling like they are just in random place A.

For example, I set my Dresden game in Honolulu, HI, because it's my home town and I know the area pretty well. Helps make the players feel like they are actually there.

[Lanodantheon]

When the DFRPG comes out, I know where my game will be played: my hometown of  Spokane Washington, of course. In saying that, I'd just like to share my ideas on this whole Dresdenification of cities that everyone and their dogs will do when the DFRPG comes out. I don't think my interpretation of my city is really special, I just thought forum readers might find it amusing and if not then I'll get a few healthy flames telling me what's wrong with it.

When most people Dresdenify their home towns, it seems like they just play off stereotypes. I just want a location that's fun to play in.
That being said, here's my take on the podunk town of Spokane, WA:

Dresdenverse Spokane is like the Magical World's Casablanca (Complete with Werewolf-Nazis)...

In Spokane, Washington, nothing happens. We have had a World's Fair, but that's about it. There is nothing here, yet we're the 2nd largest city in the state with the 2nd worst job market in the country. However, big names still come here from time to time. This seems suspicious to me. In the Dresdenverse, even moreso. I like to think that there's something special about my town.

My lore for the city begins when the White Council's member of the Lewis and Clark expedition discovered the Native American equivalent of an Old God dormant beneath (figuratively) what is now Spokane, Cheney, and parts of Idaho. The Council kept it a secret until the 1880's when a Warden was turned into a Black Court Vampire. The secret now out, everybody wants a piece of that Old God.

The ex-Warden Vampire meanwhile broke free of the Black Court's control and sold the secrets that subsequently became the famous How-to Guide on hunting Black Court. (I'm watching spoilers here) That vamp couldn't go back to the White Council and couldn't bring himself to suicide, so instead he parked his vampiric butt here. He is now a Gentleman Johnny Marcone in a way. He is the silent, silent partner of the Inland Northwest, running his own Mini-Mafia of outcasts.

The ex-Warden (Whom I haven't named yet, I'm terrible with names) also made deals with both Winter and Summer to keep the city a spiritual "No-Fly Zone" and later was the first entire city to sign the Unseelie Accords as Neutral Territory. ALso, the Vamp Kingpin decided that no side in the current magical hostilities claim sanctuary here (Again, I'm watching spoilers) It is literally is a magical Casablanca. This managed to stop Overt action by outside groups, but like Berlin during the Cold War, but Magical Spokane is crawling with Covert operatives from everywhere. The Warden Regional commander doesn't like to come here except for recruiting Wizards, but the commander is hard pressed to find them here because the other groups snatch them up.

Because of the Old God though, everybody wants it. The secret spread to the Third Reich in the 30's. Hitler sent a special SS unit to investigate and find a way to unearth it. After the War ended, the unit stayed in the Inland Northwest and now hopes to revive the God to resurrect Hitler.
Hence the Werewolf Nazis, because you can't have Dresdenverse Casablanca without them...

That's my idea for a Dresdenverse Campaign setting. I'd like to run it.

[R00kie]

The Council kept it a secret until the 1880's when a Warden was turned into a Black Court Vampire. The secret now out, everybody wants a piece of that Old God.

The ex-Warden Vampire meanwhile broke free of the Black Court's control and sold the secrets that subsequently became the famous How-to Guide on hunting Black Court. (I'm watching spoilers here)

Theres got to be an interesting story here. Bram Stoker did the research trip to Dracula in 1890 with his visit to Slains Castle (Scotland) and visits to the crypts under the church St. John the Baptist (in Ireland). He penned the first words later that year.  At the time Stoker was acting-manager of Irving's Lyceum Theatre in London. So the big question is how secrets sold some time in the 1880s somehow made there way from America to Europe where they ended up in the hands of a Theatre Manager.

I'm surprised you haven't tied the Great Fire of 1889 into it. Fire is always a big theme in the Dresden-verse and it appears to have happened just when your ex-Warden was breaking free of the Black Court. You really could tie the fire in and turn it into something big in the history.

I presume having 'broken free of the Black Courts control' he is still just as demonic and evil as every other Black Court vampire. After all, the Vampire isn't really the ex-Warden - its just a creature that looks a lot like him and has his memories. In this respect I suspect he'll be a lot less likeable than Gentleman Johnny - and he'll be running a lot shorter on redeaming features.

I'm also curious about the 'Old God'. Are we talking about something from beyond the Outer Gates? Something 'Cthulhu-like' straight out of the works of H.P.Lovecraft?

Its going to make an interesting setting.

One big concern though:

later was the first entire city to sign the Unseelie Accords as Neutral Territory.

Do you really want a campaign city where no magical creatures (including Wizards) are willing to fight with each other for fear of breaking the Accords? That is going to really hamper the game options. If the PCs do get into a fight they'd better go out of there way to hide all evidence, not just from the mortal authorities, but also from the fey, the vamps, the council and everyone who has a vested interest in screwing them over.

It feels like equal parts Dresden, Lovecraft and Buffy. It could be a lot of fun.

[Delarith]

And of course there was never any violence in Casablanca.

[R00kie]

I'm not suggesting there'd be no violence.

I'm just saying the repercusions of that violence would be enough that players are going to have to be very, very careful, or alternatively players are going to get both them and whoever they represent into a lot of trouble.

[SaintAndSinner]

Dresden-ish Birmingham, Alabama is being worked on here:  http://johnpaul613.livejournal.com/tag/dresen+files

Note:  The special ban mentioned only has to do with out in the open fighting.  Anything that happens behind closed doors is fair game.

[R00kie]

Just posting this back here since it was obviously supposed to be part of this thread:

First, this is the just the initial info for my setting. I can't really start fleshing it out until the rule book comes out. One of things about this famous How-To guide is that the White Court commissioned it according to Harry in "Grave Peril" so alot of the history in regards to it can be thought of as dubious. Stoker says, "I was doing research at the time..."  Bu&$#*! he was.

First, I haven't gotten that far in my design yet and...I don't know anything about that part of history. Seems your more savvy in history than me. 

That Vamp, who still doesn't have a name, is just one of those characters who it depends on who you talk to and when.

Some people say the guy is a regular Marcone, a rogue with a heart of gold and a fist full of cash. This is substantiated by his office, which anyone with magical know how can find (with some difficulty like Marcone), which strangely has a continuously updated Evil Overlord's List nailed on the office wall. Most say it's been the office joke for the better part of a decade, but strangely it has annotations in red marker like, "Tried it" "Never works" and "That actually works" scribbled on the ideas.

Some people say he's the devil incarnate and is nothing like his former self, cutting off the head of anyone who starts anything his city without his consent.

Some say he was a sleazy Bastard in life, well on his manipulative way to becoming Merlin. They say when he got turned, except for making him undead, he was exactly the same afterwards.

Some others who say he's like Buffy's Spike on Steroids, a Black Court Vampire who is the nicest, most forgiving man in the world. This substantiated by his policy, "Everyone deserves a second chance" but that can also be attributed to the fact that he is repordely still a practicing Christian/Catholic despite the vampirism. 

But, the most popular belief is that he doesn't exist at all. Most people think he's the White Council's Kaiser Soze, a bedtime story meant to keep the Old God under wraps. This can be debunked by any reader who knows what the Blackstaff is. However, there are some who say that this guy actually is the current Blackstaff(But most readers know who that is)...

For gameplay purposes though, I am prepared to run his organization as one of the central antagonists. They are cooking something up and most believe it is a plan to cure his vampirism through magic.

On the "Old God": Several times in the books (Not a spoiler) Harry mentions that Old Gods and religious figures like Zeus, Odin, Shiva and the like actually existed, but are now dormant. They hold a tremendous amount of power, rivaling if not exceeding that of Mothers Summer and Winter. The purpose of the Old God under Spokane is for obvious reasons, and is one of those things left unsaid. My current plan is that it is an Old God linked to the Native American Tribes of this region, but I haven't made any determinations yet as to what it is. For certain though, any practitioner in my games will tell you there is something off in this area, they feel a presence of some kind. This is evidenced in real life by the weird weather we have around here. For the past 3 days he have had slow winds and it has been bright and sunny on this spring break, but as I type this it is snowing outside... By this time tomorrow the snow will be gone at it will be sunny again....

One: Just because they're not supposed to fight doesn't mean there isn't any fighting. I talk alot about it being Casablanca, but it's also like Berlin during the cold war, there is a lot going on behind closed doors. There is simply no "Official" business conducted within the city, but there is still business. Third Eye drug deals, copies of Warden Silver Swords and cloaks, Vampire street gangs and Faires who like to mess with humans are still common in Magical Spokane, but they are done in a way that the normal person doesn't notice. The Accords and mini-Mafias playing police can only stop so much. Plus, it is a major campaign thread that this system of neutrality is breaking down. Members of the Kingpin's organization aren't patrolling anymore and more overt actions are being taken without fear of punishment.

Also, this will not limit my Players because my players will cause trouble no matter what kind of setting it is. It would not surprise me if in the first adventure they ended up derailing a train and set some huge fey on fire before the first day was out.

Plus, I don't know what my players are going to play yet. It would not surprise me if one or more of my players had an aspect called, "Instrument of God" in the same vein as Michael Carpenter except with fandoms instead.
"That weapon's just a replica prop..."
"But it's signed by the great one.."
"Tolkien?.."
"Shut up!" Is a conversation I would not be surprised to have if I could vamp someone enough. I have one of those gaming groups....

Yes, it is going to be a fun game.

[R00kie]

One of things about this famous How-To guide is that the White Court commissioned it according to Harry in "Grave Peril" so alot of the history in regards to it can be thought of as dubious.

Hmmm. I'm sure you are right. I'm going to have to re-read Grave Peril. For some reason I thought the White Council comissioned it, but it has been a while since I read Grave Peril. Anyway I'll get there soon enough - I've just restarted Fool Moon and plan to work all the way through again.

First, I haven't gotten that far in my design yet and...I don't know anything about that part of history. Seems your more savvy in history than me. 

I've never been anywhere near Spokane, but I did a tiny bit of research into the Town of Amber and Amber Lake for an ADRP game I ran a few years ago. It really didnt matter where I picked as long as it was called Amber (And there are lots of Ambers in the world). For some reason I picked the one in Spokane County.

I've just checked though, and the fire is actually mentioned in the Wikipedia entry

For gameplay purposes though, I am prepared to run his organization as one of the central antagonists. They are cooking something up and most believe it is a plan to cure his vampirism through magic.

Thats one hell of a plot line. On the surface a magical cure for Vampirism looks like a great thing, but if you think about it a little more its an incredible weapon. In the wrong hands this beneign invention could lead to a lot of blood-shed. Your Marcone may claim his motives are pure but are they? As a weapon for ensuring the dominance of the Black Court over the Red and White I can think of few things as potent, yet at the same time the cure sounds so innocent.

On the "Old God": Several times in the books (Not a spoiler) Harry mentions that Old Gods and religious figures like Zeus, Odin, Shiva and the like actually existed, but are now dormant. They hold a tremendous amount of power, rivaling if not exceeding that of Mothers Summer and Winter.

Yeah. I remember the mention of old gods from Summer Knight, but I thought the implied location of those old gods was the NeverNever. Of course any location makes as much sense as any other. You could take a leaf from Terry Pratchett's 'Small Gods' and have a gods power tied to belief, which would go along way towards explaining why those gods became dormant (i.e. People just moved on, and found new things to believe in).

Yes, it is going to be a fun game.

Considering the thought you've put into it already I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a terrific game