Other Sources for DFRPG Characters/Plots/etc

[Keryth]

Well, I just got my DFRPG books, and when I can get myself to read the rules rather than the comments, I am impressed (Sorry, the whole Dresden, Will, Bob thing is just too funny!  )

Anyhow, I wish this game had eben released a year ago, as I am now running a d20 Modern game that it owuld have been perfect for. Anyhow, reading through the rules and such has convinved me the next time I use the current game's universe, it will be DFRPG.

First a little background, so you all can see where I am coming from. The original campaign concept was a group of supernatural/alien characters are recruited by a mysterious government agency to investigate a series of murders in a Dresden/Buffy style Universe. Yes, I said Aliens and Supernatural in the same sentence  The beginning group consisted of:
White Council Mage
Immortal (Highlander Type)
Cerean(Lizard from original V miniseries) Psionisist
Founder (shapeshifter from DS9)
White Court Vampire
Harrowed(Deadlands) Hexslinger
Pure Mortal Non-believer

As you can see, I did borrow form many sources. And seeing how my main protagonists of the group is the denarians, Dresden is where I borrowed from the most. The group has had to deal with summoned demons, Shanarran Elves (aka Terry Brooks' elves) and other things.

Anyhow, the entire purpose of this post is what other sources could be imported into a DFRPG withough destroying it's flavor?

Some of the ideas I've had that would be perfect, perhaps with some tweaking would be:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (even if there was a reference or two to the show in the books)
Knights of the Word (Terry Brooks)

Your thoughts?

[Da_Gut]

Virtually the entire canon of modern urban supernatural could be. And thats HUGE right now. I'm actually beginning to burn out on it a bit.........   

[Crion]

To save you the hassle, I just want to note that there has been a thread covering a similar topic, at least in the guise of books.

So, if you are looking for other sources of Dresden-ish inspiration, take a look here: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,19011.0.html

I already made a post there with a few ideas, and if I come up with others, I'll be back to toss them around.

Enjoy!

[Keryth]

Thanks. I'll have to look up the tpoic mentioned.

I'm runnign into a wal with the current campiagn mentioned above, but its more of an issue of the party needing more levels and such before they face off with the main protagonists.

The toughest trick I see with bringing other sources into a DFRPG game is making sure they don;t overwhelm the source material.

[Crion]

Thanks. I'll have to look up the tpoic mentioned.

I'm runnign into a wal with the current campiagn mentioned above, but its more of an issue of the party needing more levels and such before they face off with the main protagonists.

The toughest trick I see with bringing other sources into a DFRPG game is making sure they don;t overwhelm the source material.

It actually really depends on the material you are bringing in. Some things are so close to the material that you can see them almost as neighbors. Jim Butcher isn't the first to write in this genre, and there is quite a bit out there. While much of it is relatively close together, there is often enough to help you denote what is specific to each writer.

In the game I'm still trying to set up (grumble grumble), I'm going to steal sections of the cosmology of John Constantine: Hellblazer to represent the demon side of things and H.P. Lovecraft for anything relating to the Outsiders. Both aspects are only merely referenced in the books, so having them fleshed out a bit more thanks to other materials is nice.

Additionally, one of the guys I know from college (who just started getting into the series and the game) is planning on a ritual-heavy character, but the only rituals we've seen so far are the minor Thaumaturgy tricks we see Harry do, or the big nasty things that are mostly done behind the scenes. This guy is taking the two aforementioned "sources" to build up his ritual-caster.

So, long story short: you can supplement the gaps that exist with other materials, and other materials may add another flavour to whatever it is you are doing.

Hopefully, that helps set your mind at ease with pulling other sources into play.

[Nomad]

OP: I decided that I don't like you so I'll torture you
Go to a big bookstore and go to the romance section. You can find about 20 different series about modern urban vamps and weres with female protoganists. (Yes I am a translator and I am sick of translating those glitter bundles! ) 


Anyway, to give a more reliable answer, World of Darkness (Mortal, Hunter, Vamp, Were, Mage, Fallen), Cyberpunk, Steampunk, a very few DnD Modern, Gurps, Legend of 5 Rings, Shadowrun, Cuthulu, all of Alternity's "Dark•Matter" setting stories are not very difficult into Dresdenverse. Some of the settings can be copy pasted with abandon while others need trimming (like getting corporations out of cyberpunk and trimming the techno with supernatural)

[Crion]

OP: I decided that I don't like you so I'll torture you
Go to a big bookstore and go to the romance section. You can find about 20 different series about modern urban vamps and weres with female protoganists. (Yes I am a translator and I am sick of translating those glitter bundles! ) 


Anyway, to give a more reliable answer, World of Darkness (Mortal, Hunter, Vamp, Were, Mage, Fallen), Cyberpunk, Steampunk, a very few DnD Modern, Gurps, Legend of 5 Rings, Shadowrun, Cuthulu, all of Alternity's "Dark•Matter" setting stories are not very difficult into Dresdenverse. Some of the settings can be copy pasted with abandon while others need trimming (like getting corporations out of cyberpunk and trimming the techno with supernatural)

To tag a few more games: Deadlands (for historic games and a new flavor of the supernatual), C.J. Carella's WitchCraft (Unisystem powered), the d20-powered Amethyst setting (shows some ideas for inspiration if little else), White Wolf's Scion line, and anything else on the thread I started up here: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,19495.0.html

[Keryth]

Part of my problem with what to bring in and what not to bring in is I suffer from what one of my player's has dubbed, "Look, Shiney!" syndrome. I see something, think its cool, and want to use it. Hence, in my current game, Shadowspawn form SM Stirlings new Urban series suddenly popping up and me having to work them into the whole Vampire courts thing, without them being just another Vampire Court.

The Cintran/shannaran elves were easy to bring in, as they've been isolated and are pretty much non-magical beings with pointy ears now.

Proabbly best for me to finsih my current campign before I start thinking about its sequel, even with ym changing systems between campaigns

[Keryth]

One of the things that came out of my current campaign that I thoguth was interesting was the idea that the 'organizations' didn;t know as much as they thought they did.

Take for instance...I integrated Underhill from the SERRAted Edge novels into the game, but as seperate form the Nevernever. The Nevernever touched on Underhill, and vice-versa, but they were two sperate places. The White Council Mage went form being the expert on things supernatural, to not knowing anything (and got even worse when Underhill dumped them in Sigil form Planescape)

The other thing I liked was that we,as a group, made the non-supernatural characters, the sci-fi inspired ones, actually work while still keeping true to the whole Buffy/Dresden ideal.
It also created osme truly fun moments, liek the first time the Terminator had to deal with a magically veiled being, that completely vanished form its sensors. Talk about "Does not compute"

The more I tlak about it, the more I look forward to pitching the sequel campaign as a DFRPG. Gonna take some work on my part to convert some of the established stuff to templates, but, I like a challenge.

For thos interested, here's a list of some of the things I borrowed form for this campaign:
Dresden Files
Buffy
Shannara
Terminator/Predator/Aliens
DS9
"V" both versions
Battlestar Galactica (both versions)
Warehouse 13
X-Files
Shadowspawn Series
Jurassic Park

[Deadmanwalking]

I'm in a bit of a rush, but here's a thread that works out nicely as a conversion of it's source material:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,19083.0.html

True Blood's also a good inspiration.

[Remy Sinclair]

Even an older thread than what Deadman Walking Posted.

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,19011.0.html

[Holocron.Coder]

Another good source to add to Dresdenverse would be Simon R Green's Nightside series.

In fact, I've described said series as "Dresden Lite" before.

[CMEast]

The Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko is also perfect for the Dresdenverse; if anything it's darker and grittier. It's set in Russia where the forces of darkness and the forces of light have made a pact with each other and three groups; the Nightwatch, the Daywatch and the Inquisition; were set-up to police the pact and ensure all followed it to the letter.

Both forces are powered by humanity, with the bad guys draining negative emotions and the good guys draining positive emotions which pretty much makes them both as bad as each other. The good guys are interfering communists and the bad guys are selfish libertarians; vampires get their kills rationed out and the victims are chosen in some sort of lottery; any good magic allows the bad guys a 'free' black magic spell to keep it fair.... it's a very good series.