How to start it all...

[Madmacabre]

Hello all,

How do you plan to start you campaign given the wide range of possible character types and the close to none-existant organisation/collaboration between the various types (vampires, Fay, Wizards, Shapechangers, Humans, etc)?

Harry has the advantage of being a single man party (maybe with the exception of Murphy) with a bunch of allies that he met over the years. But in the context of a RPG with 3 to 5 players, you need something that will link them together from the start. Otherwise it may be difficult to throw plot hooks that will catch them all at the same time.

I understand that through the character creation process each character will be linked to one or two others. This is fine. Still, given the context of the Dresden Universe, I find it hard to justify them as acting as a single unit.

So, any insight you would like to share as to how you will put your group of PC together, even considering their different surnatural backgrounds?


Thanks a lot!

[SoulCatcher78]

In our Seoul Korea game we are using the second guest star option as the first combined scenario.  We are all linked in some form or fashion through the first novel and first guest star so this will solidify the group as a cohesive unit.  At least that's my take on it.

Another option is to start the game in media res.  If you start them in the middle of an action sequence and work backwards later on how/why they all ended up in the same place it can be easier to come up with "group" answers to some of these questions.

Last but not least is using several different starting points (which are unrelated) which brings everyone together in the same place but with their own reasons for being there (see above but working from the beginning of the story instead of the middle).

[LCDarkwood]

So, my internal playtest game had two very different characters in it. One was a wizard who was trying very hard to stay out of Council politics, even though he was a.) the only wizard in town and b.) the latest in a long line of famous White Council wizards. The other was an Emissary of Power, the Spirit of Las Vegas (the power source was a constructed(!) magical being who believed itself to be the soul of the city - but that's a story for another time), who was primarily tasked with helping to maintain balance in the power structure of the city.

So, what bound these two characters together? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Except that they knew they could watch each other's backs and were a good contact to have. So what ended up playing out was that whenever the wizard got into shit, the Spirit would notice and be like, "Man, I better make sure that whatever's going on with this guy isn't going to wreck my town." And whenever the Spirit had things to deal with, he would call the wizard and be like, "Hey, back me up while I'm dealing with this shit."

Never underestimate the gravity of reliable professional contacts.

Note, that isn't to say that having an overarching tie is a bad thing. It just may not always be as necessary as you think.

[TheMouse]

I was thinking of starting with an obviously supernatural murder in an area in which the PCs know one another and are interested in keeping their area quiet. If you're a supernatural being looking to live a quiet life, nothing grabs your attention like a ritual murder that lines up with some stuff you know about sacrificed to demons.

[vampmike]

in the game im currently writing the players will all work for a group of supernaturals who are the freeholders of London.

their job is well exactly the same as the wardens.