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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: bibliophile20 on July 08, 2011, 03:44:55 PM

Title: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: bibliophile20 on July 08, 2011, 03:44:55 PM
Hey, all, have a favor to ask.  I need some help fleshing out a subplot for my game; I've got an idea that I like, but all of my elaborations on it are making my muse yawn.  So, suggestions welcome.

The core idea:
The wizard PC (Ariel Ramirez) is contacted by her mentor, Wizard Banks, who she has a cordial but cool relationship.  Banks has a job for her.  In the newspaper, there's a story about a rather nasty car crash; parents killed on impact, the two daughters and one son in the back seat still alive.  Reading between the lines indicates that probably at least one of the kids managed to throw up a shield and protect their siblings.  Banks wants Ariel to go test them for magical potential and see if any of them are suitable as her new apprentice(s).  She would go herself, but, for character-plot reasons, cannot leave her house for extended periods of time or too often.  Thus, she's delegating to her old apprentice to find her replacement(s).

To make things interesting, I'm thinking that all three kids have some degree of power and that the family has attracted some sort magical McNasty that is trying to wipe out the family line.  However, I'm having a hard time figuring out which McNasty (my knowledge of world mythologies is hardly encyclopedic), especially that'll make for an interesting and viable opponent for the PCs at their currently power level. 

So, suggestions welcome.

Game statistical information: 4 PCs (1 Emissary of Power: Ishtar's Avenger, 1 Wizard, 1 Were-puma, 1 Pure Mortal soldier, 8-9 refresh, different group of gamers from my last game; these know how to RP, but are still working their way through the system), time setting, Summer, around Blood Rites, in Cleveland, Ohio. 
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: HumAnnoyd on July 08, 2011, 03:47:37 PM
Have you done city creation?  I have found in my Seattle game that the stories and villains wrote themselves once the city creation was done. 
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: TheMouse on July 08, 2011, 03:48:53 PM
What are the Theme(s) and Threat(s) for your game?
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Masurao on July 08, 2011, 03:53:06 PM
On the top of my head: a Warlock, who thinks the kids are easy targets, whose magical affinity he can use to empower himself. Pro'ly through sacrifice. A Warlock can be exchanged for just about anything, though, I guess.

Or throw them a curve-ball: the parents' weren't their natural parents and actually planned to abuse the kids in some ritual, or sell them to a McNasty. The creature, responsible for the "parents'" deaths was actually trying to get the kids to safety, but somehow waylaid. The PCs will be hunting the wrong McNasty for sometime, until they discover who actually wants the kids for their nastiness. (Ultra-curve ball: Ramirez' form Master, Banks, is actually the villain.)
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Vryce on July 08, 2011, 04:00:11 PM
Troll!  one of the kids is naughty, the old troll used that to get at the whole family.. the accendet happened on a bridge!
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Richard_Chilton on July 08, 2011, 04:26:12 PM
How old are the kids? I'm thinking that if at least one is old to try to make sense of a senseless situation then he/she might thing that the PCs arrange that accident so that the kids could be taken as apprentices.

And that might make sense - would the mentor do that? Would some enemy of the mentor (the reason she can't leave her house) do that just to lure the mentor there? Are the kids just pawns in some sick game and if so how do the PC explain it to them?

Alternatively, they might see everything in Harry Potter terms.  If they realise they have power they might be waiting for a train to Hogsworth.  One of them might have even accidentally caused their parents' deaths so they could get there.  Or maybe one of them thinks that another one of them did it - "I love my brother/sister, but I know he/she murdered mom and dad.  That he/she didn't mean to do it but he/she did it".  The sibling doesn't actually have to be guilty for the character to feel this way - and imagine the extra stress when the suspicious character learns about the laws of magic.  Say the brother thinks one of his sisters murdered their parents - he could start asking "But what if you killed someone and really didn't mean to do it and you're really really sorry" and if they don't pick up that he's asking about his sister (rapport or empathy roll) suddenly the PCs are thinking that he might be a warlock.

Just a few items...

Richard
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: UmbraLux on July 08, 2011, 04:37:27 PM
Quote from: bibliophile20 on July 08, 2011, 03:44:55 PM
To make things interesting, I'm thinking that all three kids have some degree of power and that the family has attracted some sort magical McNasty that is trying to wipe out the family line.  However, I'm having a hard time figuring out which McNasty (my knowledge of world mythologies is hardly encyclopedic), especially that'll make for an interesting and viable opponent for the PCs at their currently power level.  

So, suggestions welcome.
Not sure what would fit your campaign best but here are a couple of ideas...

The Vampire Connection - With the
(click to show/hide)
they want two things - increase their power and decrease the WC's power.  Turning children with the power to become wizards accomplishes both goals.  They've got the parents out of the way, it's time for a "guardian" to step in...

Caught in Sidhe Politics - If one or more of the children are changelings, they (and their family) have become counters in a covert war waged between two sidhe nobles - one of whom is the father.

My Ancestor's Ghost - One of the children's grandparents wasn't able to handle the power his family had and stay sane.  In an effort to end the magic, and his line, he killed one of his sons (an uncle of the children) before being cut down by police.  He's still trying to end his progeny...
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: bibliophile20 on July 08, 2011, 04:43:00 PM
Okay, in answer to the above...

City creation: http://ur-talarius.wikispaces.com/Dresden+City+Of+Cleveland
Not completely up to date, but you get the general idea. 

Kids' ages are whatever fit the story best.

This is a subplot, though, so I was hoping to have it be a minor villain while the PCs are having to deal with the big villain plot, hence my avoiding the Threats and Themes and going for something a little more oddball. 

I'm liking the suggestions so far, btw.  Thanks, everyone. 
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Haru on July 08, 2011, 06:19:24 PM
Depending on how much your players already know of the Dresden story, you could simply copy Harry's backstory. Their uncle, a white council wizard turned secret warlock is kind enough to take them in after their parents tragic "accident". Then he starts teaching them to use their magic, all with the intention to make them his personal enforcers. Depending on how dark you want this to go, one of them might even have gone too far to the dark side and there is no way he would be coming back sane.
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Drachasor on July 08, 2011, 08:08:46 PM
Eons ago, perhaps during the war to cast out the Outsiders, there was a nameless, terrible thing.  It could not be stopped, or held, or reasoned with.  When all hope seemed lost, 9 gods managed to seal it away, mostly outside our universe, though they died in the process.  The cage wouldn't last forever, and would eventually need to be reinforced.  However, the cage slowly drifted out of alignment with our reality, and over a few thousand years, much was forgotten.

As the cage weakens, many factions seek to gain advantage.  Some want to free what is inside, convinced they can gain an ally for themselves or at least create a powerful enemy for their foes.  Some believe they can turn the seal into a binding on the prisoner, forcing it to their will.  And there are some that want to reinforce the seal.  As to the exact nature of what has been sealed away, no one remembers...

There are scattered scions of those original 9 gods left among the world however.  The Merlin himself is one and knows it.  Most however, are simply not away of their heritage, much less what it means.  The two kids are scions of one of the gods, and their parents were sorcerers.  The accident was in fact a magical attack, staged so that the children would survive without the guidance or protection of their parents without believing that some purposeful force had orphaned them.  Of course, multiple factions are away of what is going on.  There are factions that want to use their blood in a ritual to weaken the cage, factions that want to guide and protect the children so that the cage may be reinforced, factions that want to guide the children for their own dark ands, and others with even fouler intentions (perhaps Fomori who seek to twist the children to some unique purpose).

Now, one could certainly have this sort of thing be a basis of a campaign.  However, you could also have it as a one-shot adventure that just demonstrates there is BIG STUFF that happens all the time.
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Lanir on July 09, 2011, 02:19:08 PM
For a side story with a bunch of players who like story, I'd kind of lean towards a hag or a witch type of villain. Something magical and dark that's latched onto those particular children and wants to make kiddie stew and crunch their bones. Make the bad guy really tough if you like the idea so it can come back later.

The twist is the kids aren't entirely defenseless. A pixie has gotten attracted to mess and is busy playing faerie godmother and protector to one or more of the kids. The pixie isn't going to be able to keep it up though, he/she is depending on trickery and misdirection mostly. The pixie's motive is it's a flighty critter and this seemed like a good idea at the time. Adds a motive to the bad guy as well. It's recently heard of the pressed fairies book and the pixie has annoyed it enough that it wants to make one.
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: TheMouse on July 09, 2011, 02:30:38 PM
Hm. A small group of RCVs decide that they need a leg up on the WCVs, so they've decided to grab the kids while they're young. The idea is to convince them that the RCVs are the good guys and that they need the protection of some gifted wizards, conveniently played by the children.
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: bobjob on July 09, 2011, 08:16:08 PM
My initial idea has already been stated, but I'm trying to flesh out the reasoning a little more. In Changes,
(click to show/hide)
. Perhaps the Red King or someone in his court wants to infect the children and then provide them with the Red Court equivalent of the Tattoo of St. Giles (perhaps the Mark of the Jaguar). This would leave them mortal-ish, with access to their burgeoning magical powers and with the right application of diplomacy potentially under the sway of the Red Court.

I'm mulling over other potential ideas right now, but I also like the Warlock who is trying to eat their power. Maybe he performed necromantic curse that ripped the power and the life out the driver. It's possible the Warlock didn't know the entire family was in the car when he did this ritual.
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: SunlessNick on July 09, 2011, 11:48:51 PM
What if it's not a McNasty, but the older of the kids feared for the three's safety (the reason could vary depending on how complicated you want to make things, or what you're comfortable with - it might be as simple as overhearing the parents talk about magic being evil, and being afraid the kids'd be hurt if their talent was discovered).  Anyway, the older kid caused the crash as well as the shield that protected the them all.  All three are suitable for training, but one could be construed as a Lawbreaker.

One of the parents is not the natural parent of the kids, but a stepparent married after the blood parent supposedly died.  Of course the blood parent didn't die, and is a warlock, and wants their kids back.  Possible twist:  the kids don't have any magic, or at least none they can use; it's the warlock parent who put up the shield.

One of the parents is a warlock, and in hock to something dark and dangerous, including an afterlife clause (possibly a demon in the Chauncy sense rather than fallen angel sense).  They came to believe that the deal and debt would be passed onto their kids, and were trying to save them from the parent's own fate - ie, the parent crashed the car deliberately.  Were they right about the deal?
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Set Abominae on July 10, 2011, 04:34:53 PM
Quote from: HumAnnoyd on July 08, 2011, 03:47:37 PM
Have you done city creation?  I have found in my Seattle game that the stories and villains wrote themselves once the city creation was done.  

That's my experience so far too. Spent last night filling out my location and city sheets, and have found myself with more than one page worth of faces and a handful of casefile hooks.

Which makes me happy.

But on the topic on hand, my first thought is to keep the kids young. Second thought is that the McNasty is one of the kids, but not in the traditional sense. One of the kids has night terrors or some form of undiagnosed delusional mental illness. Their touch of power has allowed this part of their psyche to make their fears manifest (so the monster under the bed or in the closet becomes real). None of the kids is trained or old enough to recognize what's happening, so they all think the monsters are real and killed their parents. At least one of them (preferably not the troubled one) can make shields and did so (probably reflexively) to protect them from the scary "monster" that attacked them. Perhaps each has their own magic talent that will manifest in some way during the story.

What this can do is keep the players guessing as the "monster" keeps changing to fit the kid's current worst fear. Of course, it could be a phobophage, or if you wanted to ratchet up the tension, in danger of attracting phobophages. Point being that the players would have to figure out that the McNasty was actually just a scared, disturbed kid, and how to stop the kid without hurting him/her. Of course, if the kid killed with magic and/or mucked with people's minds, however unintentionally, and you want to complicate things further, have the Wardens show up to dispense some "we don't see grey areas" style damage control, putting them at odds with the player characters who do.
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Falar on July 10, 2011, 04:45:44 PM
Quote from: Set Abominae on July 10, 2011, 04:34:53 PM
That's my experience so far too. Spent last night filling out my location and city sheets, and have found myself with more than one page worth of faces and a handful of casefile hooks.
Seriously, this is so true. Once city creation is done, you have a whole bag of hooks just waiting to be used. I was amazed that when we got done with the Twin Cities corebook just how many plots immediately presented themselves. And, if your players made sure to tie their characters into the setting, it's practically automatic how they get involved.

This is one of my favorite parts of this system.
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: Set Abominae on July 10, 2011, 04:58:31 PM
Quote from: Falar on July 10, 2011, 04:45:44 PM
Seriously, this is so true. Once city creation is done, you have a whole bag of hooks just waiting to be used. I was amazed that when we got done with the Twin Cities corebook just how many plots immediately presented themselves. And, if your players made sure to tie their characters into the setting, it's practically automatic how they get involved.

This is one of my favorite parts of this system.

Completely agreed, and one of the things that had me feeling that I was on to something golden once I started reading the core rulebook. My knee-jerk reaction was "What? We're starting the book with GM stuff?", but once I read through and started applying the process, I was saying "Brilliant!"
Title: Re: Looking For some advice on fleshing out a sub-plot
Post by: bibliophile20 on July 11, 2011, 03:01:41 PM
I like the various thoughts, and I'm definitely filing some away for future use, but I think I'm going to go with the following:

Last year, a UK member of the White Council went off the deep end out of despair (possibly helped along by a discreet WCV) and began commiting familicide (descendant-cide?) after the death of one of his beloved great-grandchildren.  Not wanting to have to face that pain again, he came to the deranged conclusion that it was best to just make a clean sweep of it, all at once, and save himself the future pain.  He got through about 3/4 of his extended family before he found out that the derided coppers of his own youth have left their own highly capable successors who have definite thoughts on little things like hostage situations, serial killers and possible domestic terrorism.  And, as he only believed (and was thus magically capable) in killing his own descendants, the police shot first in a tense situation.  Wizard dies, the Wardens are a little late to the party, but they're occupied with the Red War and they at least engage in a little clean-up and coverup. 

Now, one of his great-great-grandsons, living across the Atlantic in the US, has an accident; a fatal one.  And his 13-y.o. son and two preteen daughters managed to survive in the back of the car, but he and his wife were killed when they swerved out of the westbound lane and into the front fender of a Mack truck in the eastbound at a combined speed of about 150 mph.  The survival of the kids is being called a miracle (of car safety design).  The kids do have some latent talent--all of them--that comes through their mother's side, but they had a bit of help. Their maternal great-grandmother, also a magic user (but not a full wizard, sadly) made a bargain with a Black Shuck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Shuck) (a semi-benevolent black dog spirit of the UK) to watch over her line. 

As a result, witnesses to the scene will report--erroneously--that the car swerved to avoid hitting a large black dog on the freeway; this should hopefully make the spirit's job alot harder and the ghost's easier.  (And given some of what else I have planned for the main plot--that should be more than enough possible complications to keep PCs occupied)