Pitch The Setting

[finarvyn]

I think it would depend upon other experiences that my game group has had.

I think that DF can be very detective-based, but can also be more of a sweeping saga of supernatural conflicts. Have the players seen...
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show, not the movie)
* Charmed (TV series)
* World of Darkness (RPG/novels/comic books)
* Kindred: The Embraced (TV knockoff of WOD)
* Dark Shadows (TV series)
* Diana Tregarde (books by Mercedes Lackey)
* Vampire books by Laurel K. Hamilton
* The Adept (books by Katherine Kurtz; Kerr? not sure)
* Constentine: Hellraiser (movie or comic books)
* Fred Saberhagen's Vlad Taltos books
* Kiolchak the Night Stalker (TV series from the 1970's)
* Bloodshadows (RPG from West End Games)
* Urban Arcana (d20 RPG from WotC)
* Indiana Jones (movies with a hint of magic behind the scenes)
* Harry Potter (books or movies)

For a detective style background, what about....
* Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe (books and some movies)
* Dashiel Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (book and movie)
* Ian Fleming's James Bond (the original books, not the movies)

For a better Harry Dresden experience, try...
* The Dresden Files TV series (even 1-2 episodes, just to start 'em off)
* There are several Dresden short stories, if they don't want full books.
* "Welcome to the Jungle" graphic novel (a fast read)

All of these can help to give a newcomer a feel as to how a modern-day supernatural game can be run. If they have seen this stuff it's easy to see how DF is played. There can be an emphasis on the wizards or vampires or fairies or whatever, and the Game Master can make his or her campaign follow one of many different styles. The Game Master can fit the game to what the players like or instead pick his/her own preferences.

So, what if they aren't familiar with any of this stuff? Explain that it's a modern-day world where magic can happen. Let them experience the setting a step at a time, with the players being amazed in the way that their characters would have been amazed in similar circumstances.

Hope that helps a little.

[Lanodantheon]

I like this one... You should write promo blurbs! 

Thanks.... that brightened up this Film Major's afternoon.

Attempt 3, Don LaFontaine 2(Son of the Don):

It's not paranoia if a demon is trying to eat your face... For Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, it's a fact of life.
Harry Dresden is a Wizard, complete with fireballs, love potions, summoning circles, voodoo dolls and enemies from the other side of everyday life, the supernatural side.
Most people don't notice the fey, ghosts and vampires lurking around the corner, but Harry does and is always the man who knows too much.
When the Chicago Police need answers about the paranormal...
When the local mob wants a religious artifact that could destroy the world...
When the Fairy Queen of Winter just wants a fall guy, they all call Harry Dresden, Wizard. 

[WMC_Cyberchihuahua]

The comic Planetary has some potential as idea fodder.


"The world is a strange place". "Lets keep it that way".

"One hundred years of super hero history, slowly leaking into the modern world... Sometimes, ordinary people uncover things that are best left covered. Sometimes, things best left covered emerge into ordinary life and do not have the world's best interests at heart. These are the times when Planetary arrive - invited or not..."

[Valarian]

So, what if they aren't familiar with any of this stuff? Explain that it's a modern-day world where magic can happen. Let them experience the setting a step at a time, with the players being amazed in the way that their characters would have been amazed in similar circumstances.

If this is the case, and where have they been if it is, then it may be worth running a game of "mortals" who are thrust in to the supernatural world - somewhat like Murphy or Officer Rawlings. This allows the new players to explore the setting without having to worry about the complications of magic. Later, when they're more familiar, you could let them run characters who are part of the supernatural world.

[finarvyn]

If this is the case, and where have they been if it is, then it may be worth running a game of "mortals" who are thrust in to the supernatural world - somewhat like Murphy or Officer Rawlings. This allows the new players to explore the setting without having to worry about the complications of magic. Later, when they're more familiar, you could let them run characters who are part of the supernatural world.

This is an excellent idea. When you think about mundane people in Harry's world, they don't believe in magic, etc, either. So if you start them off and make them think they are playing a detective or espionage style game, they won't expect to see odd things happening and may have a hard time explaining them at first. Eventually they'll catch on to what you're doing to them.

There's an excellent article in DRAGON magazine from the 1970's where two groups of players were brought together to fight a miniatures battle. One group was told that they are Nazi SS soldiers sent to investigate strange happenings, and the other group was told that they are a fantasy army of orcs and wizards sent out to find out what is going on in the local wilderness. Inagine how they reacted when they began to realize who each other might be. The soldiers were firing machine guns at strange flying critters and were dodging fire balls at the same time.

You only get that one time, however, becasue they'll always be suspicious after that. 

[TheMouse]

If this is the case, and where have they been if it is, then it may be worth running a game of "mortals" who are thrust in to the supernatural world - somewhat like Murphy or Officer Rawlings. This allows the new players to explore the setting without having to worry about the complications of magic. Later, when they're more familiar, you could let them run characters who are part of the supernatural world.

That would probably work. Just get character ideas that would likely fall into the path of supernatural stuff, then don't let them spend time looking at the supernatural type Stunts. Then drop them into a conflict between two supernatural factions who won't have the time to murder the Hell out of some random mortals.

[Melkarion]

When someone spots me with a DF book and askes what it's about, I usually say something along the lines of "Imagine Harry Potter grew up rough, and found himself in a 1930's hardboiled detective novel, which then grew up rough, and found itself in modern Chicago."

Not the greatest pitch for a game, perhaps, but it usually works well for the books, so if I had to give it a stab, I'd start there.

[Rel Fexive]

So I finally got metaphorical pen to paper on this.  I reserve to the right to make future edits

For most people, the world is just as they see it.  Death, taxes, war, poverty, crime, love, politics, office squabbles and family arguments.  Buying a home, making friends, rush hour traffic and soaps on TV.  Simple.  Mundane.

But you're special.  You know about the things they all ignore, or that they pretend don't exist so they can feel comfortable with a nice, safe, explainable universe.  But you... you know magic is real.  You know about the three (or is it four?) courts of vampires.  You've read about the monsters that inhabit the darker corners of human cities, and even fought a few of them.  You've seen first hand what happens when one of the fae wanders into this world from the Nevernever to cause mischief... or carnage.  You've even heard of the White Council of Wizards and how the Wardens enforce their Seven Laws Of Magic.

Yes, you're special.  But that just puts you right in the middle, in no man's land, in the war between good, evil and every shade of grey in between.  Good luck... you're going to need it.

Welcome to The Dresden Files.

[Shecky]

That's pretty good.