Yeah, they have that problem a lot.  Game Parlor is much friendlier.

Also remember that cut-and-dried doesn't have to be.  After all, Thomas was pretty cut-and-dried when we were first introduced to him.

Take your half-vampire mobster, for example.  When the party first meets him, he's the worst possible cross between Bianca and Marcone.  Ruthless, brutal, and cold.  The second time they meet him, though, they actually are reluctant allies, both fighting his sire (the PCs trying to beat down evil, the mobster just trying to get out from under his sire's thumb).  A bit later, the mobster actually comes to the PCs for help.  He's come to respect them, see, and thinks they can help him control the Hunger.  Have him open with an offer of employment (I've actually always wanted to see an alternate universe where Harry accepted Marcone's offer from Fool Moon).  Depending on how things go, he can either then try to appeal to their better natures, or he can turn to blackmail and/or kidnapping hostages to force them to help him.  Ultimately, he could end up as an ally.  Which could create all kinds of complications, as the other supernatural denizens then assume the PCs also share his morality...

This will end in flames.  Alignment discussions always do.

Harry himself is Chaotic Good.  He is a strong proponent of "doing the right thing."  He also frequently expresses the belief that rules and society get in the way of doing the right thing, more than they help.  On more than one occasion, he has not only ignored the rules, but gone out of his way to thumb his nose at the establishment.

Murphy is Lawful Good, though heavier on the Lawful side.  She truly believes that the law is there to help people, and that doing things by the book is the right way.  She's also a strong proponent of the needs and rights of the "greater good," focused more on society as a whole than any given individual.  However, she has frequently bent the law in order to do "the right thing," which pushes her out of the Lawful Neutral alignment.

Marcone is Lawful Evil.  He has no compunction about using any means necessary to achieve his ends.  However, of paramount concern to him is order (with himself at the top).  He rules both himself and his organization with an iron fist.

Bianca is Neutral Evil.  She is, ultimately, incredibly selfish.  While she is able to run her own organization, and to play at least moderately well in the Great Game of the vampire courts, she has shown a remarkable lack of discipline on a personal level.  Or maybe Harry just brings out that side of her....

Bob is Chaotic Neutral, or at least Neutral with Chaotic tendencies.  While he is also selfish, he is not interested in pursuing his interests at the expense of others.  He is a lone wolf, who is not at all interested in working with any larger organizations.  He also frequently encourages Harry to take the most expedient solution, even if some people might get hurt along the way.

Billy is Neutral Good (although he would probably self-identify as Lawful Good).  He is entirely about "doing the right thing."  He falls into the Neutral category because of his views on authority and group dynamics.  He wants to be part of, and to lead, a pack.  And, he wants cooperation with the other supernatural critters.  But, he very deliberately chose to be a vigilante, to work outside the established system.

I don't really want to wear a gambeson for six hours, either.  Besides, sitting on the chain shirt that long isn't good for the chair, either.   

I don't know, maybe I've just been lucky in the groups I've been in.  We've always aimed for diversity.  Part of it is that we're always conscious of covering all the major skill sets.  One combat wombat, one skill monkey, one social monster, one reality-defying freak, etc.  I think it would be pretty easy to just say, "Hey, people, try to get a range of things going," rather than any hard and fast rules.  After all, I find that there are LOTS of excellent examples of character types in the books (and the TV series, for that matter) that aren't wizards at all.

As for balancing the players, that comes down to two things.  One, make sure that when abilities have disadvantages, you enforce them.  Make your wizard actually sit out of the action when he's brewing potions.  Occasionally, make him regret using his evocation at full power.  Two, make sure that when characters have advantages, opportunities come up in the game to use them.  If a guy makes an IT worker whose advantages include significant disposable income and computer skills, make sure that your stories offer up ways to use money and/or hacking to solve the problem.  Then, it doesn't really matter that the wizard might be, on some giant cosmic scale, "better" than the IT worker.  Both characters are contributing equally to the story.

Again, if the circle was made of car parts the steering wheel wouldn't interfere.

But, the steering wheel would be inside the circle.  So would the drive train under the car.  So, the car itself can't be insulated from the mage through the use of a circle.

Hmm, taking the "static strip" idea, what if you bled the excess energy into a special container, rather than out into the environment.  Kind of like Harry's ring that stores up kinetic energy.  There would be no way to make it perfectly efficient, but you might be able to significantly lessen the effects.  And, as a bonus, you're charging up a magical battery for later!

Er, because the car moves, and the circle doesn't?   

Wow.  That's a really cool explanation for the leak.

So, stronger mages tend to short things out more than weaker mages, because .1% of the kilothaum (to borrow the above Discworld reference) McCoy tosses around is a lot more than 1% of the single thaum Molly is handling (despite the fact that, because of his training, McCoy is leaking, proportionately, ten times less energy from his "pool").

And, it tends to reinforce the theory that different mages affect different levels of technology based on their core understanding.  The magic that is used in the spell is guided by belief.  The magic that runs stray is also guided by belief, but in a sort of inverted way.  The spell is defined by what you believe will happen, and the side effect is by you don't believe will happen.  So, if you don't trust cars, phones, or elevators, your stray magic tends to reinforce that mistrust, and they break down.  A computer would be really hosed, because even the most devout techie does believe that it will break, and generally at the worst possible moment.

Thanks, Fred!