Too silly for city faces?

[Leatherneck]

Little background.  My players couldn’t bring themselves to help me create New Orleans for DFRPG beyond two Themes and a Threat.  So I created the locations and all the faces.  Then at the last minute they threw in two city faces.  “The Cult of the Blue Oyster” and “Were-Panther Clan” with no idea what they are beyond the names and a hand wave, ‘the GM can figure it out’.  “oh, and GM they want to rock the boat.”   Grrrrrr

So, I decided The Cult of the Blue Oyster is an occult Nazi origination from Brazil in direct completion with them to gain all the pieces of a key to open a seal.  (the threat).  I’m good with occult Nazis.  Defiantly bad guys, but all mortals so the spell slingers have to be careful.

But what to do with “Were-panther Clan”?  I had planned to introduce them as extremist environmentalists, were-panthers.  That could set them up as both good and bad guys to the PC’s.  But last night I had a vision of a Were-Panther Ninja Clan.   The visuals in my mind are pretty assume.  The first few encounters would have standard ninjas working with black panthers, leading the players to believe that the WPNC has animal companions, and are not shapeshifters.  Later they would learn the truth the hard way.

However – I still have this shapeshifting environmentalist in the bayou story I was planning for the weekend.  So, am I too silly to have them as Extremist Environmentalists, Were-Panther, Ninjas?

[MyNinjaH8sU]

So, am I too silly to have them as Extremist Environmentalists, Were-Panther, Ninja Occult Nazis?

There, fixed that for you.

Also, no. Not at all. Do it and video their reactions.

[cgodfrey7]

Not too silly if it makes sense in the city setting.  What does an Extreme Enviromentalist want?  Why would ninjas be involved?  Is it a plot from Japan to take over New Orleans as part of the rebuilding effort after Katrina years ago?  Has someone hired the ninjas and leopards to remove some high muckety muck that is building super tall buildings with no concern for the environment?  Are there mob bosses involved trying to restore the casinos?  Maybe Yakuza are fighting with Mafia in the background?  Throw in a shaman with native american or aztec or maya influence to have more fun with sacrifices to appease the land that has been ruined by businesses.  Maybe voodoo or santaria is involved indirectly.  Maybe Panther Clan is moving in to power vacuum left by previous shapeshifter clan that was severely hurt by Katrina or other.  Maybe some dead have risen because some ancient evil was buried in the marsh eons ago only to be freed, and some one in the know wants the dead / ancient evil put back in place and hired the Panther Clan to take care of it.  Random thoughts are running down, hope these have helped inspire you.

[Leatherneck]

One of the city themes is, the shrinking marshlands and buoys is causing strange things to migrate to the outskirts of the city.   They players thought it would be a good theme for monster hunting.  Of course I am going to complicate their simple idea.  My idea of the extremist environmentalists is they are trying to protect the buoys and will use any means to do so.

Now that I am talking to someone about the idea, I don’t think the were-ninjas is silly.  The Were Panther Clan uses ninja tactics, cloths and weapons, but are not Japanese trained assassins.  I am now thinking, they are actually American enviro’s using the ninja trappings while in human form.

Ninjas and Nazis in back to back sessions.  That will teach my players to leave everything up to me.

[Leatherneck]

Extremist Environmentalists, Were-Panther, Ninja Occult Nazis?

There, fixed that for you.

Also, no. Not at all. Do it and video their reactions.

Dang - why didn't that idea happen two weeks ago.  Way too funny.  No video, but I do audio record the sessions for my own notes.

[zerogain]

If you intentionally leave out some of the panther powers to be unaffected by the change then you make them even scarier in "human" form.  Perhaps they have Inhuman Speed in both human and panther forms, for example.  Further, add to the ninja trappings with the use of poison.  An especially smart or deadly werepanther might have a special pouch she wears around her neck that she can then use to tip her claws in venom after she changes, thus granting her temporary use of the Venemous add on to Claws.  Heck, one or two of the ringleaders might even be scions or champions of one of the old Native deities or great spirits.

In my own campaign I have a budding champion of Raven running around.  As part of our coloring, we have created an addendum to the NeverNever called the Shining Road - a series of pathways connected to sacred Native sites that only loosely thread with Faerie.  We treat it as a specialized realm of Faerie, so it's close to the world but only in certain locations, and the spirits there are very much in tune with the various tribal mythologies.  In the Northwest, be very careful of wandering across the warpath of a few Haida ancestors...

[mostlyawake]

were-people are people, too.  Burning them with magical fire still gets you lawbreaker. 

But a group of were-panthers who were delighted at the city's destruction, and who fight to keep rebuilding from happening, sounds pretty cool. 

Now, if you go and say that Brad Pitt is also a were-panther, and that's why  he tried to make sure that green building practices took place in the rebuild, that might be cheesy. (and awesome).

[ralexs1991]

Now, if you go and say that Brad Pitt is also a were-panther, and that's why  he tried to make sure that green building practices took place in the rebuild, that might be cheesy. (and awesome).

haha that's epic i wonder what other famous people live hidden supernatural lives (stares into space).....

[Leatherneck]

Now, if you go and say that Brad Pitt is also a were-panther, and that's why  he tried to make sure that green building practices took place in the rebuild, that might be cheesy. (and awesome).

Yep, they are miss-guided do gooders, out to force their Ninja Hippy views on New Orleans.

[hank the ancient]

So, am I too silly to have them as Extremist Environmentalists, Were-Panther, Ninjas?

Ahem. "Purple Pyromaniac Chimpanzees Flinging Incendiary Poo!"
That is all.

[Marganma]

Damn, now I´ve got these Werecat-Ninjas stuck in my head and will probably make them a faction in my San Francisco campaign.

...thanks. 

[Leatherneck]

Damn, now I´ve got these Werecat-Ninjas stuck in my head and will probably make them a faction in my San Francisco campaign.

Do I get a Fate Point for adding a complication?

[Leatherneck]

Ahem. "Purple Pyromaniac Chimpanzees Flinging Incendiary Poo!"
That is all.

  Yea, that happened too.  I guess there is a bit of the silly in my version of Dresden.