One of the big differences is the Hotel. Does have echoes or a conscious that's looking for a power up?
It looks awesome. One question, though. Have you done character creation yet? Do you have time to do so collaboratively? Character creation would be a good time to potentially weave the PCs into the scenario's background. Maybe one or more of the PCs knows some of the lost agents. Maybe they have bonds with the town, or some of its residents. Maybe one of the PCs will actually start as a town resident, recruited into the party by necessity because of expertise/information they have that is vital to the mission's success.
I'm not saying that any of that is necessary, but it might help establish the stakes and lend some depth to the adventure, before you even start your first play session. I've had great experience with such strategies so far.
He's right.
Rescuing "generic girl that needs rescuing" in one thing.
Rescuing "My second cousin (from my background) who dated another character in his Rising Conflict and is in another character's first story while being mentioned in a third character's guest star bit" - that's another thing. Letting the PCs help define the girl who needs rescuing means that they will have an investment in saving her.
Is this intended to be a one-shot, or the beginning of a campaign? Do you expect the campaign to continue in this city, or will it move from city to city? Either way, the results will be a bit different from the 'standard' DFRPG in that the characters won't be integrated into "The City" as they normally would, but that's ok. I really like what you've got so far.
I agree with the comments above in trying to at least tie the characters into the scene via relationship with the missing group. If even one or two of the players have some connection (a friend or more than a friend), then you have some extra story potential to work with. You might consider looking at one or two of the one-shot adventures that Evil Hat has put out -- in particular the section on questions to ask the players in order to tie them into the one-shot -- and adapt the idea to your adventure.
In my experience Dresden really favors improvisations GMing over a more structured approach. Having a solid outline of what you want to happen, and an understanding of the capabilities of your players, is important but if you have too clear an idea of what should happen you're setting yourself up for some challenges. Improv GMing can be intimidating but Dresden really lightens the load by giving the players a level of narrative control, but if you want that to work you have to make sure you don't step on that control.
Before things start doing character creating is very important, since writing an adventure without knowing the aspects of the PCs is pretty futile. If this is the kick off to a campaign I would choose 3 or 4 of your characters and pick one aspect off their sheets that you want to have a scene to highlight. Make sure it's an aspect they came up with (some aspects on the sheet, if you work as a group, will likely be decided by committee whether that's your intention or not) and one that they seemed excited about. If you ask them for 3 uses for the aspect (something I recommend) you should be able to get an idea as to what they want to see. Be ready to roll with the punches and look into your players eyes when they say they are invoking an aspect for something other than a +2 or a re-roll, if their eyes light up, do your best not to say no.
If this is a one shot it gets more complicated, try to find a way to highly at least one of each character's aspects and if you can try to hit no more than 2 in a given scene. Specifically try to call out the aspects of the quieter players in the group, don't force them into more involvement than they are comfortable with, but show an interest in their characters awesome (which of course what their aspects are) will help them to find their best level of engagement.
So far as the specifics of your story, I'm not familiar with I6 but I would recommend as a rule to plan for at least 3 different solutions to every problem, Combat, Avoidance, or Social. Most likely whatever you come up with still won't happen, but it'll give you a good jumping off point for whatever solution they do come up with, if you know you're players well you can make these guesses more accurate, but they'll always throw your a curve ball.
My GM recently did a game that was like this in terms of its small town setting. One thing he did that I found cool was to get a map of a ski tourism town in Colorado and pictures from the actual towns' chamber of commerce online then alter/add what was needed for the story. It took the game play to a much higher level and since it was a mountain mining town, we actually ended up using more aspects of the setting and terrain. (don't ever give a wizard a mountainside of loose boulders)
I get that this is sort of a preliminary one-shot type adventure, but I still think it would be a good idea to see if the players are interested in adding something to their backstories involving one or more of the missing agents. It could be as simple as one of the missing agents owes a PC 1,000 bucks from last years fantasy football league, or one of the PCs used to have a crush on one of the agents. Doesn't have to be world-shattering in its profundity.
You might be surprised on how much players can pick up and play off of little details like that, and how much it helps to focus their actions when they have context for what is supposedly at stake in a conflict.
To a certain degree, yes... I'm thinking of something similar to the island of Demonreach before Harry before Harry performs his Sanctum Invocation. Mainly, though, I also want to use the idea of the Hotel's impossible layout (http://www.collativelearning.com/the%20shining%20-%20chap%204.html), as -- purposefully or inadvertently -- exhibited in the movie.
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She should have Weapon:4 claws, I believe. +2 for Inhuman Strength and +2 for the actual Claws power.
Strahd's for Feet in the Water PCs, correct? In my (limited) experience he seems like he'd be pretty tough in a fight, but taken on his own I think a group of PCs can take him down, IF they've been planning for it and have saved some FP. Unless they are stupid or you severely limit their access to Catch-satisfying resources, you can probably disregard his Toughness powers. The first PC Strahd hits, though? I bet you will get some "he did HOW much stress?!" looks from your players. Those are fun looks. :)
You'll probably get some advice on how to completely screw over your PCs with this guy, and some counter-advice on how he'd pose no threat at all to a suitably-built PC. I'm just saying from my experience and given my group of players, he looks like a tough fight.
Use Renfielded animals and humans to split your PCs' attention. Even one competent henchperson on his side will up Strahd's survivability significantly. And he's always got Gaseous Form or Bat-Change for escape.
You should have an NPC with the name Belmont, but that's just me trying to work in Castlevania references. Oooh! Name the hotel the Belmont. :)
Fantastic! Your Awesomeness Knows No Bounds.
Add into that idea the non-euclidean floor plan from the movie, and that's exactly what I'm looking for.
Has anyone tried statting up a location as an NPC before?
So, maybe we could say that the Genus Loci of the place was twisted by the building of a hotel on a pristine spot and now blindly seeks powers? Call it a small one, a wannabe when compared to Demonreach, but something like that.
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Whatever it is, the Being is now tied to the hotel and can affect its grounds. It calls itself calls itself 'The Manager' - and it sometimes refers to itself as 'we'. It can project power up to ten miles away, and when talking to vulnerable mortals the hotel implies that the echoes and ghosts that are part of it are "immortal" (so it can offer immortality). Its wants and needs seem simple enough - it wants psyche (or magical) energy to feed on and become stronger.
Ullman said: "The Overlook was built in the years 1907 to 1909. The closest town is Sidewinder, forty miles east of here over roads that are closed from sometime in late October or November until sometime in April. A man named Robert Townley Watson built it, the grandfather of our present maintenance man. Vanderbilts have stayed here, and Rockefellers, and Astors, and Du Ponts. Four Presidents have stayed in the Presidential Suite, Wilson, Harding, Roosevelt, and Nixon."
"I wouldn't be too proud of Harding and Nixon," Jack murmured.
Ullman frowned but went on regardless. "It proved too much for Mr. Watson, and he sold the hotel in 1915. It was sold again in 1922, in 1929, in 1936. It stood vacant until the end of World War II, when it was purchased and completely renovated by Horace Derwent, millionaire inventor, pilot, film producer, and entrepreneur."