introduction to the setting

[Brackenfur]

So we are going to be starting a new game soon and the majority of players are mostly unfamiliar with the Dresden files.
What I was wondering is what the fine folk of the forum think the key points of the Dresden-Verse are. And to what depth to cover what areas.
It makes sense that not every player would need to know about the laws of magic, but it seems that they should all have a rudimentary understanding of the different Vampire courts and the Fae. I'm just not sure what that should include.
Are there any summaries of the Dresden-Verse I could hand out?

[Richard_Chilton]

Here's a link to one that I wrote - it covers most of the basics without being a spoiler for the books.
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,22372.msg966827.html#msg966827

Back when the game first came out there was a great blog that went through the magic system and explained it in detail.

It's a bit long - but this is the best overview I've seen:
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=628
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=629
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=632
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=639
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=642
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=654

Hope this helps!

Richard

[Brackenfur]

Wow thanks a lot. That sums up everything beautifully.
And I have read the bit on magic and found it very helpful, though I had lost the links so thank you again!

[Richard_Chilton]

You're welcome.  Glad to have helped.

Richard

[Lanir]

Honestly in that situation I'd be looking for ideas on how to introduce them in an in-game scenario. At least as far as the things I wanted to introduce went. It probably only takes encountering one fae or vampire in a less than positive light for them to figure out they don't want to blithely trust any supernatural critter they meet, no matter how harmless it seems. The hard part if you go the in-character intro route is knowing what kind of characters will interest your players without requiring them to know a lot about the supernatural parts of the setting yet. And then talking them into trusting you while you help them get into the swing of things. If the trust doesn't seem to be there... abort and do the handout.