AlanM's Untitled Campaign

Game Master AlanM

So, I have reached the point where my in person group is just not cutting it for me anymore, RPG-wise. And while I've tried to do Play-by-Posts on other forums, the best that I've had have always been here, so I'd figure I'd give back.

So, as the thread title says, is anyone up for a Dresden Files game (I would set it shortly after the events of Dead Beat, in an American city of the group's choosing) or a Kerberos Club game (think Victorian-era superheroes in a world gone Strange). I'd also be willing to do a modern supers FATE game, using the Kerberos Club rules system and a roughly designed world of the group's making (quite possibly with Dresden's City Creation rules).

So, any takers?

I am a new player to FATE and Dresden Files RPG but I love the books. Please allow me to be the first(or close to it) to say interested.

Yeah, I am definitely interested in a Dresden Files game. Totally in for a young Warden or Knight of the Cross!

Okay, so there's definitely some interest for a Dresden Files game, so for you two that have posted, and anyone else interested in Dresden Files, start posting city ideas to set the game in.
Similarly, if people are interested in a Kerberos Club, mention your preferred era (but Dresden Files is a bit more popular than Kerberos Club, so I'm fully expecting more calls of Dresden than Kerberos).

Baltimore is easy and well known to me but I'd be up for any other city with a good story to it.

P.S. Depending on refresh I'd like to be a wizard.

I'm interested! I'm a huge dresden files fan. I'd love to play some sort of wizard. Are there any character generation guidelines that we should be aware of?

I'd like to suggest Santa Cruz, CA as the setting. It is a bit small but it has a history of strangeness, energy vortices, crazy isolated mountain folk, creepy woods...etc. Lost Boys (the vampire movie) was filmed there as well and it is pretty darn close to the setting of Buffy.

I'd be interested in a dresden files game. For setting, I'd vote for something less commonly used, like Seattle, or Vancouver Canada. If the opposite is preferred, go with something exotic and equally unfamiliar to all, like Budapest, Cairo, or Bagdad.

I'd probably also prefer to play a wizard, but I can be flexible of something else is needed.

Dresden sounds like fun, so I'll toss my hat into the pile. I don't have any preferences as to what city we base the game in, so long as its easy enough to familiarize with and has lots of juicy bits to play with.

As for character concept, I'm thinking a guy who is addicted to eating magic. Not sure how to do that mechanically though.

I'd be interested in Dresden, and Seattle sounds good to me though I don't really mind the city too much

Depending on the refresh, I'm interested in Sorcerer/Wizard or Pure Mortal

I'm unfamiliar with Kerberos Club. However, I have a half-done Dresden Files character just sitting around, unused. A seelie changeling and magical environmentalist, interested in protecting endangered species that the Feds can't. I'm most familiar with Portland, OR and the West Coast in general, but flexible and willing to learn about other cities.

Okay, so I'm definitely up for running a Dresden Files game, as there is a fair bit of interest in it. And between mentions of Seattle, Vancouver, Santa Cruz, and the West Coast in general, I'm probably going to set it somewhere along the West Coast. Right now, I'm oscillating between Vancouver and Seattle, so if people have a preference either way, I'm all ears.

And since people are starting to come up with character ideas, I'm thinking probably either Chest-Deep or Submerged (8 or 10 refresh respectively) as a power level, dependent on how the city comes out.
As for the ideas mentioned so far:

Warsor, LastNameOnEarth, john frink, and Hawx: Yeah, a wizard is fine and doable at either power level, my only concern is if there's multiple wizards, making sure that they don't step too much on each other's toes. Of course, if I knock the power level down to Up to Your Waist, then you can't be a full Wizard and Sorcerers are by necessity more specialized...
DundjinnMasta: Sorry, but a Knight of the Cross is going to be a no, simply because they have to move around too much and its a bit contrived for one of the three of them to be permanently stuck in the chosen city. As for a Warden, that's a little more do-able, but you run into the same issue of due to when I'm setting things, the White Council needs every Warden available, and again, it doesn't make too much sense why they'd assign one to just this one city. But it is more feasible than the Knight.
omega9: I can figure something out that'll work (hopefully)! The question there is what does he gain by eating the magic, and why/how does he eat it?
Fredrik: A Seelie Changling/Magical Environmentalist? Sounds cool!

I would love to give his game a try. I am not familiar with the Dresden stories, would that be a problem? Is there anywhere I could read up on it?

I merely asked for a wizard since I haven't really taken any time for building a character concept yet. Also they are cool and extremely versatile. I could easily be some other type of supernatural with some idea of what the game will be about.

A problem? Not really; part of the game is coming with the city as a group, so you'll know most of the major stuff for where you'll be playing.
Honestly, the best resource for getting passingly familiar with the world (and the system) is the first RPG book: Your Story

Oh and by Sorcerer above, I meant Focused Practioner.

And Warsor: Oh yeah, I understand. It's just for Dresden Files (actually FATE games in general), I like to know what all the players are before/what the specific setting is (City Creation) before I start to work too heavily on a story/plot, so that way the PCs are more motivated to be active, that's all.

I think my second idea would be to be a cop on some sort of weird-case police unit, a la Lt. Murphy. He'd had some sort of a supernatural tie in his upbringing that would have drawn him to that kind of duty (half-seelie, or amateur practitioner or something along those lines.) I need to refresh my memory on the character creation options and see what leaps to mind.

As for my location of choice, I vote for Vancouver as my first choice, and I'd vote twice if I could get away with it. I'm Canadian, and did my degree there. Beautiful city, area, and a rather intriguing variety of landscapes within close range.

Considering running whatever local bar the wizards/supernaturals come to blow off steam. Too much of a Macnalley rip? Still not 100% set on a wizard, just need to find a fun to play template.

I doubt having several wizards will be a problem as long as we all take the time to differentiate and play our backgrounds, motivations, and personalities. In a way it is beneficial as it gives us a reason to know each other and work together.

Vancouver and Seattle are both good options for settings. I've been to each (even if it has been awhile) and am happy to do a bit of background research for the game to integrate my character. I'd vote strongly for the higher refresh rate but it isn't a deal breaker or anything if you choose the lower.

Warsor: Nope! Having some sort of hangout for the local clued-in community, be it a bar, a coffee shop, a bookstore, or something else entirely, is perfectly reasonable, and to a certain degree, kinda wanted!

john frink: Oh yeah, I know they can be very different; it just means I've got to make sure that the problems aren't all something that a small coven of wizards can't just steamroll. And the Refresh rate won't be set in stone until post-City Creation, anyways.

LastNameOnEarth, regarding Vancouver: Really? Good, because at the moment I'm kinda leaning to the Vancouver side of things a bit. Hmmm...

For a second there, I thought you meant Vancouver Washington, which is practically next-door. ;) I've been to both Seattle Washington and Vancouver Canada, so although I think that the former has more hooks -- mostly due to being larger -- I'm cool with both.

I'm glad that you like my concept. It's kind of an odd system, where the characters get integrated by the city development. This is what I have so far: I'm leaning toward keeping the guy at the most refresh possible, since there's always the potential for succumbing to the lure of more power later. So he's going to need some skills and gear...

* Seelie magic (-4)
* Wizard's constitution (-0)

Again, it's been awhile, so I'd have to refresh myself on what that all means.

I'd be interested -- I'm currently playing in a Dresden game on these boards, but I love the system and would love to join.

Had a few character ideas - totally willing to take the one that best fits the group..

I'll flesh out the character if there's a concept that works for the group. :)

Ok, I've been reading up on the Dresden stuff and starting to form something of a concept... I'm thinking someone born in New Orleans to a wealthy family. His hobby is Poker, and his interest is history and the occult. He comes home one day and finds his grandmother in the process of devouring his girlfriend while the family watches and chants. Before his eyes his grandmother goes from old to youthful and he flees not knowing that this is how the family has survived for many generations. And since his older brother is a high-ranking member of the Sheriff's department, they are concealed and easily cover it up.

Poker earns him enough to spend time studying the occult and realizing what an abomination the family he comes from is. And so, he's studied magic as a resource to go back and fight the corruption in his family. However, this is all to his grandmother's plan to use him as a means for youthful immortality other than becoming a vampire.

Would something like that work?

For a city, I'm not familiar with much on the West Coast other than Seattle so that would work. A Canadian city would work too since the character would naturally speak French as well. :)

omega9: I can figure something out that'll work (hopefully)! The question there is what does he gain by eating the magic, and why/how does he eat it?

What he gains and why he does it have similar answers; he gets a hell of a buzz, with stronger magic giving him a longer trip. Different magics have differing effects as well, and if his arcanophagy addiction is having any other effects on him than getting him high, he's oblivious. This started after nearly ODing on some Three Eye (rising conflict/first adventure, anyone?).

As for how he "eats" the magic, he just kind of sucks it up in the same way that a thirsty person sucks lemonade through a straw.

Dundjinn: Maybe your character is a young upstart who's looking to join the Wardens (maybe you already have the sword!), so he goes out of his way to "fight the good fight." Its an idea.

I'd throw in for this, if you're still looking for players. I'm thinking of playing a young guy, around 22, just finished college who inherits his great uncle's restaurant, La Fortuna, which just happens to be accorded Neutral Ground. He's never really had brushes with the supernatural before, but since he's taken over the restaurant, he's started having flashes of some sort of power. I'm thinking he might end up being an Emissary of Luck.

I love the FATE systems so I'm definitely interested. How many people are you looking for? I was thinking of a lycanthrope of some sort.

Well, I'm already far over what I was shooting for, group-size wise, so I think I'm going to keep Recruitment/Interest open for a bit more (couple of days) to see if there's anyone else interested and for batting around city and character ideas.

And then we'll hop into City Creation with a largish group and everyone will have input in it's creation; once created, the PCs that I will choose will be those that seem to fit the best in the city and in the group overall, and then we'll progress to Character Creation. At maximum, there will be eight PCs (that way there's enough that if for whatever reason people either need to drop out or be inactive for a while, it's no big deal), but realistically I'm shooting for more around the six mark.

So, let's say that City Creation will begin on Thursday, October 11th, so if you are interested, post by Wednesday at the latest!

Cool. Still working on ideas for my character but if I'm not ready by then someone else can have my spot since I'm still kinda a newbie to the game system.

I'd be willing to chip in. As of right now things are a bit busy but I have a feeling that this could be awesome. Still working on a character concept at the moment, though I'm probably just going to restrict myself to guess staring for the time being, (GM willing) since I am busy.

Oh, all I need is a general vibe/idea/concept for a character, not necessarily full mechanics. And I expect city creation will take at least a week anyways, so you've got time.

Every city has atleast 1 Warden assigned to every city. The White Council can not afford not to have a Warden assigned to a city because they give up territory then. Chicago had Morgan, and later Dresden himself. Each city usually has another Wizard or two in them to back wardens up if they need. Other cities can call on Wardens for extra muscle if they are experiencing something out of their league. Each region has a "Captain" who is a Warden (again Morgan, then later Dresden). A warden is nothing more then a Wizard with policing authority. All Wizards are subject to the White Council so if this is set during a war (possibly the one with the Red Court) then all Wizards are going to be conscripted and have the same issues.

Knights of the Cross are guided by the White God. They do travel quite a bit when they are called from above, but they all have homes. A new Knight could have their home in the group's city of choice. It really depends on what canon/how close to canon you are playing it. A Knight could easily be involved if the stacks are high/dangerous enough and innocent people will suffer or any of the fallen are involved.

As an aside there are several suggestions / other holy artifacts that I can use in place of a Sword of the Cross to be a "Knight of the Cross". I have used the Spear of Longinus in several of my games. (Mechanically it functions exactly like a Sword and I fall under the Knight template as well).

Considering the limited amount of 'templates' available and several Wizards are already in play I am not sure what I would play otherwise. Knight of the Fae Courts or a Scion of some-type.

As an aside at Chest-Deep or Submerged there isn't going to be any "upstarts". That is some pretty serious power being thrown around! I had a Scion of Hercules in a game at Submerged that was throwing around a Might roll of 18-26... He could heft and toss around buses.

And I like an West Coast city! Seattle or Santa Cruz sounds good. Grunge or California-style!

As far as cities go I'm willing to go for anything but I think any city is good as long as it's recognisable and doesn't have too much baggage associated with it. In other words, any city where we don't have to worry about getting it "wrong" because we forgot about Times Square or Vegas which has such a strong theme associated with it. I confess I'm a little weary of Seattle as a setting after having three editions of Shadowrun cram it down my throat.

Considering the likely power level, a Were-Form sounds like fun though the themes of the city will be a strong influence.

DundjinnMasta: There's a Warden assigned to each region, not neccesarily each city, but ultimately that's besides the point. But I should probably let people know when exactly the game will be set, which will also help you understand why there probably wouldn't be just one Warden per city, considering how few of them there are. Also, Wardens aren't just ones with policing authority, but also ones who have combat expertise, which is harder to come by than just a normal Wizard.
But yes, you are correct about a Knight: they do have a home, and so that does work a little more-so than I was originally thinking (I was focusing on the whole Crusading aspect of them a bit).

The When!
Three months ago, a terrorist attack struck the city of Chicago, killing thousands and destroying over a square mile of the downtown area on Halloween night.
Still unsure of what sort of weapon was used (who would believe magic?), the United States government and their allies have increased security, and yet the world is getting darker and darker still. For those that are in the know, the war between the vampires and the wizards is going even worse and sadly, it is becoming obvious to many that the White Council may not win. These are dark times, and they promise only to get darker still.

The Where!
Honestly, I'm pretty set on Vancouver right now as the location of the game; it's big enough to have all manner of city problems, and yet close enough to the wilderness to have issues come from there. It also isn't a location that's too overdone, like Seattle via Shadowrun, and doesn't have a hugely strong theme associated with it like NY or Vegas. Also, I'm already coming up with half-formed ideas and thoughts for Vancouver.
Now, if somebody can give me a strong case for somewhere else, I'm all ears!

ello hope I'm not too late to try and get in on this game. I have played the dresden rpg before on paizo and had a great experience.

The character I'm currently working on is Jack barb, an undead sarcastic, devious man for hire, whose ghostly contacts and pessimistic world view should make for an interesting time.

Im trying out the living dead template/concept/thingy for a bit of a challenge and hopefully something different. If this concept doesn't work for the setting or something let me know I got my old character Seil the dionysus worshiping saytr I could tweak if needs be.

All the character stats/skills/powers are on his profile, depending on the refresh amount (8 or 10?) you pick I will be adding more to him for sure.

Hi,

I'd like to put my hand up for this as well if there's a spot. I was originally thinking of heading down the faerie route, an ogre blooded Changeling. There do seem to be a lot of wizards around though, so possibly you'd prefer me to do a mortal?

I like the idea of playing a city worker, someone who repairs municipal works. Over time, she has become known for being able to deal with stuff others would prefer not to face. When mortals report the 'odd jobs', not things they would report to the police, but stuff like trees which repeatably drop branches on passerbys, bridges which make people dizzy,and so on - she seems to be the one who gets the ticket to fix it.

I'm interested in playing a Changeling (Fetch) cop, with the ability to sense fear, eat fear and glamours.
Grew up with good foster parents who helped to keep the worst at bay. Feels the urge to feed on and cause fear, but tries to use his fetch nature (ability to sense fear, and to a degree what the fear is) as an aid to investigative ability.
He doesn't not feel so bad about feeding on monsters' fears, but as the book points out (YS189) "you are what you eat". Every time he feeds on fear - even monster's fear - he comes that little bit closer to becoming a Fetch, a little bit more monstrous.

Sweet idea. I like the concept of removing Dresden from the game so we don't feel overshadowed.

Okay, here goes:

Gaius Cavatelli was a pretty normal 22 year old. He had just graduated from university with a degree in classical studies when he received word that his Great Uncle Gino Cavatelli had died, leaving him his restaurant, Bella Fortuna, in Vancouver. When Gaius arrived, he found an anachronism: the restaurant was lit by oil lamps, heated by wood fire and cooked using gas and wood fired ovens. It was a small place, nestled in an alley in Gastown, virtually unadvertised. Still, it broke even and given the economy and his seemingly worthless degree, Gaius was glad to have it. He kept the 2 employees: the cook, Corwin Tenkiller and the waitress, Helena Ivanova. But it was in the dusty office that he found the strangest thing of all, a journal, supposedly kept by his Great Uncle that described opening the restaurant in 1867, after leaving the Old World on a mission for someone he described as "Bella Fortuna," after whom he named the restaurant.

At first Gaius thought it was an elaborate joke, left by an uncle that he remembered from his youth as being a prankster. But then he started seeing things: strange halos around people that seemed to predict their future fates, odd images overlaid over the customers that showed them as angels, demons and monsters too strange to describe.

And then the Lady showed up, holding a contract he had to sign to gain his inheritance. He was sure he'd already signed all the legal documents, but he signed it anyway, stupidly without reading it. And then the visions started: dreams of nudging fate one way or another to put right an imbalance with people. He started being drawn to people, and he started to be able to affect their luck, nudging them toward good or ill to correct some sort of balance he could see around them. Then the Lady set him straight: she was Fortuna the goddess of Luck and he was her agent, correcting imbalances caused by manipulation of luck and fate. He had succeeded his "Great-Uncle", who he learned was really his great-great-great grandfather, who had held the office for over 400 years. His restaurant was Accorded Neutral Ground under the Unseelie Accords, whatever those were. And oh yeah, wizard and vampires and all those things that go bump in the night? Real. And apparently his best customers...

So now he's neck-deep in the supernatural, with powers he doesn't understand, doing a job he can't comprehend, for a Goddess older than time. So you know, exactly what a Classical Studies degree prepares you for...

A quick search on a Vancouver tourism site shows that bears (usually the black but sometimes a grizzly) are fairly common and are, statistically, the most dangerous animal in Canada. That seems a good place to start my Were-form from.

I definitely see him as a Vancouver native but I'm reluctant to get too deep into ideas until I look into Vancouver more and when we've "built" the city.

Vancouver Map

Here's a nice but fairly simple map of Vancouver. You can get much more detail with Google Earth or any of the million mapping tools out there but this one is easy to print and mark in your own things.

A quick search on a Vancouver tourism site shows that bears (usually the black but sometimes a grizzly) are fairly common and are, statistically, the most dangerous animal in Canada. That seems a good place to start my Were-form from.

I definitely see him as a Vancouver native but I'm reluctant to get too deep into ideas until I look into Vancouver more and when we've "built" the city.

I lived in Vancouver for a total of about 5 years while I worked and went to school. Bears are common in all parts of BC, though Black bears are probably more common in the southern parts of the province, such as where Vancouver is located. Though grizzly bears are significantly larger than black bears, black bears are generally thought to be more dangerous as grizzlies don't like the taste of people. Black bears will not only eat humans, but have been known to track, stalk, and kill human prey. Additionally, the play dead trick that works with most bears does not work with black bears, as they have no problem eating carrion. Oh, and they are great at climbing trees, so you can't get away that way either.

Cougars (Mountain Lions/Pumas) are also common, as are wolves. Wolves almost never attack people, but cougar encounters are common. They are ambush hunters and can easily leap 20ft or more, so most victims never see them before they strike. The cats are large (120-150+ lbs), but not as big as lions or tigers, so they prefer to attack smaller people if they have a choice, such as children or women.

Vancouver is a large city, so you need to go a ways out into the wilderness to find most of these critters, though black bears commonly enter the periphery of large settlements to eat garbage.

For a city, I'm not familiar with much on the West Coast other than Seattle so that would work. A Canadian city would work too since the character would naturally speak French as well. :)

It's generally a misconception that all Canadians speak french. It is one of the official languages as one province, Quebec, uses it as the primary language. Outside of Quebec, french speaking communities exist in most provinces, and you can find french immersion public schools across the country. However, the vast majority of Canadians have little more than a passing familiarity with the language. A french only speaker would have a verydifficult time getting around a city like Vancouver.

I'm interested in playing a Changeling (Fetch) cop...

Vancouver has access to two police forces, the Vancouver Police Department, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The VPD is a municipal police force probably very similar to municipal PD's in American cities. They have primary jurisdiction in Vancouver City itself, but not in the other cities that make up the Greater Vancouver Area, and are commonly referred to as part of Vancouver. Those include Richmond, Surrey, Delta, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Burnaby, North Vancouver, and West Vancouver (and sometimes others). The RCMP are a federal police force that have wide powers that include everything from traffic violations to anti-terrorism. They also handle all the duties duties equivalent to the American ATF, ICE, and Federal Marshals, Secret Service and FBI. While you are probably most used to seeing the fancy red dress uniforms, duty uniforms are not significantly different from any uniformed police service. Both VPD and RCMP have plain clothed divisions as well, depending on their unit and duties.

James: Love it!
Harakani: interesting...
Jacinta: Don't worry about having too similar of a character; 1) not everyone's gettin in (sorry, there's just so many of you) and 2) a changeling (can be) nothing like a wizard, so you wouldn't be stepping on toes, anyways.
Jack: um, undead=necromancy=evil, so... No.

Jack woke up dead one day, didn't do it to himself and has no history of evil or necromancy, in fact the whole undead condition is kind of a pain for him.

He spends his days either helping fellow dead (he sees dead people) or trying to fix the wrongs of the world, he isn't sure if he is being punished for something and needs to repent, or if he is just a freak of nature. He has a natural talent for lieing but isn't a bad person, sarcastic and a bit cold in the compassion area sure, but nothing evil.

If that's still a problem ill dust the cobwebs of Seil(Dionysus worshiping satyr) but id really like to try the living dead approach for the challenge of it and role playing a zombie guy who sees dead people, works with and for dead people, and is losing his grasp on life despite his best intentions, also I like sarcastic characters, and unwanted undeath seems like a good breeding ground for such a thing.

Also worth mention is that he doesnt eat brains...or limbs...or anything actually, it gives him cramps... he is sensitive about the subject.

Some Possible Aspects for Gaius:

High Concept - Recently Minted Herald of Luck
Trouble - Phenomenal Cosmic Power, Itty-bitty Living Space (to reflect that he's always broke, short of resources and constricted by his patron from using his powers to help himself)

Other Aspects:
Better Lucky Than Good - To reflect the fact that he's skated through life, cutting corners and skipping classes

Fortune Favors the Bold - Actions are more important than words, sometimes a gut reaction is more useful than a lot of thought

Klaatu, Baratta, Ni-<cough>...Whatever - To reflect the fact that said skating usually has consequences and none of them good

I think these could be useful, both for myself and for the GM, as troublesome aspects to invoke.

I hope these give an idea of what sort of character Gaius would be and how he might fit in a game. I see him as easily adapted to any level of play, reflecting how much power his patron his gifted him with at this stage of the game. He'll probably have the Sight and Wizard's Constitution, definitely, but maybe some sort of Luckomancy as well. Well, a very limited power: he won't be able to throw terrible huge curses, just nudge luck one way or another, effectively creating extra successes or blocks on someone's actions.

Thanks for the info Last. I've looked at a couple of Vancouver tourism sites as well as the city's official site and even one site by a Vancouverian who talked mostly about hiking and the wilderness and what to do and not-do if you see a bear. Visually, I think the black bear is what I'm going for.

My initial idea for the character is a 30-something intellectual working at the Museum of Anthropology. I see him as perhaps someone who isn't entirely comfortable with his abilities or the knowledge of "what's out there" but the more he tries to shy away from that world the worse it seems to get and he's ended up learning more about it than he ever really wanted. If playing at the Submerged level then he's probably already learned more than is good for him and knows that he knows too much to be able to be uninvolved. If at a lower power level, he might still be holding out hope that his life can be normal; an illusion that he'll no doubt lose soon enough.

Since it seems that people aren't crawling over each other as much to get into the game, I'm gonna start mining for things that can be used to Dresdenify Vancouver.

Vancouver is really rainy in the winter: In winter, Vancouver can get rain up to 50% of the time, which means a LOT of snow and freezing rain. I'm thinking some influence on the city from the Winter Fae is a shoe in here. Especially since there also seems to be a very artsy side to Vancouver. Maybe a Leanan (not THE Leanansidhe) claims Vancouver as her own six months out of the year?

Vancouver is "Asia West": Vancouver has the highest Asian population of any city in North America. Personally, I think this opens a lot of cool doors. The presence of the Triads, Yakuza, or other organized crime element can provide a good mortal threat/organization. Seeing how elements of oriental mythology interacts with native Canadian supernatural forces could make for a decent plot device as well. We could also use the Jade court, if we knew anything about them beyond the fact that they exist.

Vancouver is a nice place to live: This is the Dresdenverse, so either this will have to change, people are completely oblivious, or something big is keeping the peace. I think this could be worth toying with.

This is all I have for now, but I'll keep searching.
Thoughts?

Jack: Alright, you've convinced me a bit more, sorta like Dundjinni did regarding the Knight. So I'm no longer opposed to it, but as a heads-up, that will be the initial reaction of the VAST majority of people in the know who you run into. But hey, compels!
omega9: Oh yeah, there's plenty for Vancouver. For example, how does this not scream a House Skavis presence?

The earliest memory he has is of the man. He himself is a year, perhaps a year and a half old, sitting on the floor of the kitchen in a dirty diaper, sucking on a few fingers of one hand. Younger than most people even have memories. The place where his mother lies 'sleeping' is a few feet off. She is still and unmoving. The man is more of a presence than any actual features. He remembers seeing his boots; big black boots with steel toes - maybe army boots he thinks now. Above the boots are blue jeans, and the lower hem of a long coat. It doesn't occur to him to look up to see more of the man, since he's not his mother and just another stranger. No matter how many times he dreams of it, he can never make himself look up, since he never did it when it really happened. The stranger crouches down looking at him, and he feels a connection; he's not mother, but there is something like that feeling here. The official story will be that she was a sex trade worker, and was killed by a John, for whatever reason Johns kill the women they hire. Despite the smell, no one will come to investigate for weeks. They'll be astounded to find him alive when that happens. They theorize and guess that he survived eating whatever was at ground level; first the cat food that must have filled the empty bag in the corner, and then the insects, like the roaches and silverfish that infest the wretched East Hastings flat. No sign of the cat. Either it ran off when the food ran out, or maybe the killer dished out some cruelty there as well. A window was found open, so it should have been able to come and go as it pleased. He remembers bits of it, how it really was - the first manifestations of something... else. Teeth and claws when he needed them, the taste of blood. But that was all later. For now, the man is still there. He's crouched, and he can feel the man's gaze looking over every aspect of him. He doesn't make a sound, any more than he did before; silent as the grave. His hand reaches out to touch him, but stops short. Fingers that ended in claws shift with shadows and are replaced with smooth skin and clean nails. The hand pulls back gently, as if in reservation, and then the man stands. The boots alight from the floor and the harsh cawing call of a raven finally brings the child's eyes up. It is standing on the counter by the open window, and the man is gone. It looks at him, staring straight on with both eyes, the way a man would, instead of looking on with one eye from a head cocked sidewise as a bird would do. It caws once more, and then flaps its black wings, and vanishes into a blue summer sky. A single black feather tears away from the wing and drifts down to where the child sits. The memory is vivid, burning. And then it's gone...

He is a shapeshifter, able to alter his body as needed in order to perform whatever task he might be called on to perform. No one knows who the father was, any more than they had any idea who the killer was. There is no sign of the legacy in his grandparents, and so his father must have been the source. No matter how much he learns about it, about the truth, about the other world that exists right before so many disbelieving eyes, he has never gotten any closer to discovering what HE was, Changeling, Raksasha, Demon, Dragon, or even Skinwalker, and what he himself must therefore be.

Template: Scion
Supernatural Powers: Shapeshifting: Modular Abilities.

Woot, Perfectly understandable that people would assume the worst of the undead freak, looking forward to it.

I have been milling some concept ideas around concerning jack and his undeadness just wana throw them your way, make sure everything is kosher while we await city building.

right now im thinking jack was a coal miner from Pennsylvania, born in 1907 started working the mines at 9 years old, he had 6 siblings, dad had gone and died in Europe the whole nine yards.

He got good at lieing, lieing about his age, lieing about skipping out on state mandated school, mother became sickly, so he got good at stealing too.

Eventually mom died kids got split up, jack was 17 by then he stuck around working the mines. Got married young and got good at making kids of his own.

People liked him, used to say the prettest thing too ever come out of the mine was jack when his shift ended (was a handsome man), kind of a local celebrity, depression didn't effect him much, he had gotten good with his bosses.

In fact in 1936 he became the boss and that night he died. No reason, no health problems, nothing...just kinda woke up dead.

made for an interesting day, he quickly noticed he wasn't breathing, couldn't smell or taste right, even the way he felt things was off. His wife (being a rather religious woman) eventually concluded he was Satan and ended up shooting him, he ran off confused never bothered his family again, and has been living with his undeath ever since.

He doesn't rot like a corpse, but he doesn't heal either. As best he can tell his senses arnt corroding, he does smell a bit deadish, its more of a musk really, he doesn't eat or breathe, also soul gazing has no effect and every magically inclined individual has informed him that he is indeed dead as a doornail.

He hasn't had to replace anything major yet (like say an eyeball of which he is rather paranoid) and isn't sure if replacing something like that would work. extra skin/stitching/metal bone replacements for cuts, bullet, knife and broken bone wounds is rather common though, thankfully modern plastic surgery has helped...beautify his previous crude measures.

His face is mostly intact above the neck, and he takes pains to cover himself, wears car air fresheners in his over sized clothes and mostly sticks to the shadows.

...wow that's longer then i intended, please lemme know if this over-sized background and undead mechanics work for you, totally willing to change if need be.

I think a Dresden-ified Burns Bog would be a fascinating too; lots of directions you could take that in. I like all the wilderness features of the area too. Almost everything north of the Burrard Inlet, Vancouver Harbor and Port Moody is ver non-urban with all those parks (Cypress, Lynn Headwaters, Lynn Canyon, Mount Seymour, Indian Arm, Belcara & Pinecone Burke) not to mention all the waterways makes for some interesting options.

It's also close enough to the US that if a trip there is needed it isn't a big deal. I find it amusing that the southern part of Tsawwassen is actually is in the US. Is that even bothered with anymore?

I also bring up Tsawwassen due to its numerous archaeological sites which would be interesting to my anthropologist.

Ok, I thought that I'd help out and try to summarize the interests and potential aspects. Please feel free to correct me or have missed anyone. :)

City: Vancouver, BC

Warsor - Interested
DundjinnMasta - Knight
John Frink - Interested
LastNameOnEarth - Shapeshifter
Omega9 - Magic Eater
Hawx74 - Sorcerer/Wizard; Pure Mortal
Fredrick - Seelie Magician
Tilnar - Dark Pact Metalhead or Immortal Dick or Galvanomancer Acquisitions Expert
Arknight - Wizard Gambler with a Destiny
James Martin - Emissary of Luck / Restaraunt owner
Sir Jolt - Lycanthrope Anthropologist
Jack Barb - Undead Merc
Jacinta T - Changling (Ogre-blooded)
Harakani - Changling (Fetch) Cop