[AP] DFRPG - Manhattan

[Need_A_Life]

Warning: Neither myself or my players are American nor have we ever set foot on Manhattan. If you're looking for an accurate depiction of the place in a roleplaying game, this isn't it.
I am fairly sure I've cleaned out what profanity I used when writing this (at least I haven't been able to find any more), so I think it's alright to post here now.

Session 1: Spring Times
We start our tale in the city of New York, where two people, only months out of Japan have made their home. Specifically, the story starts in a small bar known as The Cellar Inn, we meet the cast.

• Takeru (played by Johan): An Emissary of the Kami-no-Kaze, Takeru is a former Yakuza-trained killer turned monster hunter, using his superhuman speed and strength to prove the ancient maxim: "Never bring a gun to a swordfight."
• Hiroshi (played by Mark): As a Shinto priest, Hiroshi is a link between the world of mortals and the spirit realm. In theory, he would be wise, patient and virtuous. Reality is, however, that he has a rash brute by the name of Takeru that he has to take care of and teach and how could anyone fault him for taking a drink or eleven when he has to do that?
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Session (played by Benjamin): There was supposed to be this were-monkey acrobat, but apparently that monkey was off doing something else.

As the two are talking, working and drinking in managing the bar, the calm murmurs of the bar are suddenly interrupted by a high-pitched scream and gurgle. As Hiroshi hurries to investigate, Takeru follows with a silent curse of: "Why does this always happen in my bar?"
The man who let out the scream has fallen off his chair and is sprawled onto the ground. Neither of the two know anything worth mentioning when it comes to CPR or medicine, though the 116 year-old man on the ground seems to likely be dead as a doornail. Calling an ambulance, just in case, the pair waits, although Takeru decides that taking a hair or two from the guy might be prudent. After all, if magic is involved, they may be able to get a wizard to help and those people just love hair samples.

As the ambulance is taking the corpse away, a police officer by the name of Bruce Parker (Pure Mortal), apparently named by parents who wanted their kid to be beat up at school, comes to take their statement. The in-the-know cop asks them pointedly if they have any idea what's going on, as 30-something people simply do not age that fast. While not entirely convinced when the two proclaim their ignorance, he decides to leave them alone, sighing that these sorts of inexplicable cases seem to be turning up much too often.
Of course, Marvin Boston is a friend of the pair and they uncomfortably remember that he has a seventeen year-old daughter. Damn, someone had better go be there for them and who better than an alcoholic preacher and a former Yakuza assassin?

Gabriela Boston has seemingly gotten the call before the two arrive and is heartbroken. Thankfully, she has a pair of her girlfriends trying to console her. By the looks of them however, a word like "junkie" seemed like very apt descriptions and our let's-just-call-them-heroes-'cause-they're-supposed-to-be decide to tell the two twitching junkies to hide away in the kitchen a while, while they talk to Gabriela. After frustrating her a lot. Like, really a lot, they finally tell her that the mysterious, suspicious death that her father suffered was death by old age and/or poison. Or something like that. They also made her promise, several times, that she would call Bruce Parker, our unfortunately-named police officer and possibly the one member of the NYPD not in the pocket of the Red Court, to find a place to stay until her mother returned from foreign travels.

With grief-consoling done, it was time to figure out what was going on. Apparently, her father had objected to her associating with certain people, namely the two junkies' "boyfriends," a trio of drugdealers. So, the surprisingly well-spoken priest approached the two and, with his aura of conviction and friendly attitude, the two girls spilled everything they knew (which, granted, wasn't much).

• The three drug dealers were named Nick Hernandez, Martin Travis and Jim Miguel. The Japanese priest immediately thought: "Damn Mexicans!" before remembering that he was himself a foreigner.
• The wonder-drug that this trio was selling went by the name Tempo, a drug that had only been in circulation for "a couple of weeks," that let you "feel connected with the whole world" and no negative side-effects. Of course, having seen a corpse dying under strange circumstances, skepticism to that last claim seemed prudent.
• The drug was being sold out of a club known as Club Hades. Despite having junkies (often poor ones at that) as their primary clientele, a lot of money had clearly been put into it all. A bit of later investigation told the two that the club belonged to a mysterious Miss Carcer.

So, armed with new leads, our japanese duo followed their junkie bloodhounds to the club, where they were disappointed to find that the dealers they were looking for had the nerve to not be there yet. Where's the professional pride gone in the business, huh?

Anyway, with a bit of time to kill, examining the VIP-section of the club seemed like a good call. Apparently there was a list, although the shaved bear-in-a-suit who was supposedly checking it only seemed vaguely aware that he was even holding a clip board. When Hiroshi asked how he could get on the list, the man put his hand on their shoulders in turn, looking at them closely, before deciding that they were good to go on up. Whether it was just him being a good judge of character or if there was something supernatural to it, the duo couldn't quite tell.
At this point, Hiroshi had a nice talk with one Daniel Hurst, Titanias emissary in New York, who seemed a rather likable fellow, though the conversation was a bit strained, as Hiroshi seemed determined not to commit any social gaffes with such a powerful man. Fairy? Sprit? Eh, who cares?

At this point the drug dealers decided to show up and Takeru took the lead on that one. Whether through divine providence, Takerus surprising charisma or something in between, Nick agreed to talk to them outside "for the sake of privacy." Anyway, he wanted a smoke.
At this point, after being initially uncooperative, Nick decided to work with the two. Maybe crushing a lamp post with a casual grab had something to do with that. We may never know.
Nick informed them:

• Their supplier was one Beldin Vlactos, some weirdo who was some 90 years behind in fashion.
• Beldin had shown up one day, told them that they would sell this Tempo-thing, or bad things would happen. Oh, and he had made Martin fly square across the room with a flick of his wrist.
• Beldin would periodically call them when he had a shipment ready in some warehouse down by the harbour. A quick description and address followed.

So, after finally allowing Nick to run away (likely to change his pants) they decided to bid the others farewell, only to see that one of the dealers, though they never bothered to learn which one, had suffered the same death that Marvin had.
Maybe Mr. Hurst could tell them something that the unhelpful junkies couldn't?

The VIP section however, had transformed in their absence. With the arrival of Miss Carcer, a pale and beautiful woman, currently enraged at some pale man, whom she was convinced had something to do with the sudden death in her club. Interrupting her was met, at first, with anger, but when Takeru explained that the same thing had happened at their establishment earlier, she seemed to compose herself and welcome their assistence. She even promised them a reward if they would solve this problem for her, nevermind that they were already trying to solve it.
Old World etiquette isn't all bad.

So, now they had a name, an address, two dead people and a suspicion that they'd be dealing with a kinetomancer of some kind. Still, paranoia never hurt anyone except by its absence, so off to the Goblin Market they went. The Goblin Market, you see, is found in the foyer of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, access is granted by saying some nonsense that some claim is a vow to abide by the peace and rules of the market, though who really knows, right?
Entering, they met Grik, the most well-known face in the market, somehow guiding everyone who needs to find something in any of the 1,001 rows of 1,001 stores, always with perfect accuracy and awareness of who is selling what. What he gets out of this service is anyones guess.
Grik led them, at a break-neck pace for 15 solid minutes, leaving even the in-shape Hiroshi panting upon their arrival to a small house - no mere tent here, no sir! - where Torag, a sickly, emanciated troll was busy hammering... something.
Upon mentioning that they'd like to buy information on Beldin Vlactos, a quick deal was struck, much to the fairy's glee.This was the exchange:

• Two favours, each taking no longer than 3 weeks to complete, with the provision that they were allowed to refuse tasks they didn't find to their taste, although, of course, once the task was begun they'd have to see it through for the whole three weeks to avoid breaking their word.
• Beldin Vlactos is a Focused Practitioner, based out of the New York Harbour. Oh, and the guy was arrogant and trusted his power too much.

Swearing about faeries, how they really should start honouring the intent of agreements rather than the letter, the two hurried back to finish this whole dirty business. Thirty minutes later, they reached the foyer of the Stock Exchange and off to the harbour it was! Now, three-story warehouses are usually imposing to look at, but Takeru's first thought was that he would totally enter through a third-story window. Hiroshi, drunk as he was, foolishly suggested entering through the door. Crazy talk, right? Well, the ward on the door did make him see a plan grassy plain a moment, but he felt no worse for the wear and entered.

Inside, a 30-something man with dark hair and a beard, was flailing his arms desparately, sweat dripping from his brow as snakes of solid light was flying around him. Beldin Vlactos.
Hiroshi was back in Japan, in the well-known surroundings of his Shrine. He could still feel the force of the impact the club had made and saw a young Beldin Vlactos fall to the ground, blood running from his temple.
"Who are you?" A confused, still-struggling Vlactos asked."Izumi Hiroshi," the ever-polite priest replied.
Meanwhile, Takeru was scaling the outside of the building.
Hiroshi was in the desert, the baking sun beating down on him. Nearby he saw an old Beldin Vlactos desparately try to fight off a group of feral, flesh-eating ghouls.
Enough of this, Hiroshi thought, I'm taking him out! Unforunately, one of the snakes of light seemed to stop his punch cold, sending him staggering backwards.
Takeru entered through the window...
Takeru found himself stalking through the airport back when he'd been sent to kill Hiroshi. Beldin Vlactos, dressed in an aristocratic outfit better suited for the Edo-era than the 21st century, accidentally bumped in to him.
"Enough!" with the skill and strength of someone who's killed more times than most people have showered, Takeru knew how to stop a spellcaster. His bokken hit Vlactos' wrist and he heard a satisfying snap.
For a second they were all blinded by the light.

Then the world returned. They were in a field, a withered field and not a tree or other landmark in sight. No animals or people for that matter either, if you didn't count the three of them.
"Where are we? What'd you do?" Takeru demanded."I don't know. I don't kn- URK!"An arrow protuded from Beldin Vlactos' throat.
"There you are." said The Huntsman, grinning at them from the saddle of his deer. His five hounds joined him.

---Next time: Can Fae be likable? Where are we? Will Bruce Parker legally change his name? All this and more in "DFRPG - Session 2: Spring Times"

EDIT: Is this even the right forum?

[Xefas]

This is the right forum, yeah.

I'd be really interested to hear about your city-building session, and get a run down of your Manhattan's stats. That's one of my favorite parts of the DFRPG.

[Need_A_Life]

Update: Here's the setting info (certain parts excised to avoid spoilers)

Spoiler

Show

NEW YORK CITY

Manhattan

Central Park
Where the representatives of Faerie come to meet, when they're in town.
Aspect: “Spring, Summer, Autmn, Winter... and Spring Again!”
Face: Kihon (White Courts Changeling)
Daniel Hurst (Summer Court Changeling)
Oberon (King of the Spring Court)

Chinatown
While as easy to find and enter as any part of New York, people here are almost a city of their own. Specifically, a city where everyone keeps an eye out for outsiders. The area is rarely visited by the police, thanks to The Tong having claimed the area, preventing the Red Court from sending their goons into the area or face breaking the Unseelie Accords. Accidents, of course, do occur.
Aspect: “Big Trouble In Little China”
Face: Tong (Ghoul Mobster)
Shou (Mortal Second-In-Command)
Gherram (Ogre Bodyguard)

Club Hades
One of those clubs that don't advertise. While the clientelle is mostly bottom-feeding scum: dealers, junkies and less savory elements, the place is well-maintained, stylishly furnished, even if the VIP-room makes the masses below look like shambling, lifeless masses.
Aspect: “I Know Well of Sin”
Face: Miss Carcer (???)

Malleus Maleficarum
Not so much a location as a group. While not organised (or, rather, sporadically organised) the group has been named for its historical predecessor. These people are witchhunters, going for any wizard, hedgemage, shapeshifter or ghost they might find. Thankfully, for them, thus far they've been lucky and only gone after the dumb or weak and even then, winning pyrrhic victories.
Aspect: “Suffer Not the Witch to Live.”
Face: Christopher Tardiff (Radical Inquisitor)
Sebastian Strauss (Puritan Inquisitor)

Statue of Liberty
Surrounded by water and with a huge lightning rod for magical energy, you'll be hardpressed to find a safer place from hostile magic than by the Statue of Liberty. The place has been declared Accorded Neutral Ground under the Unseelie Accords, though difficult and limited access to the area means that people don't use this place as much as in some cities. A small café, run by Diane (recently of Baltimore), caters to the needs of visitors.
Aspect: “Safe Harbour”
Face: Diane (Caffeinomancer)

The Police
The NYPD is in the pocket of the Red Court. Thanks to blackmail, bribes and narcotic saliva, there's only a handful of truly honest cops left in the city. An inner circle of officers make up the equivalent of Chicago's Special Investigations. However, in New York, this tends to mean 'Red Court Enforcers' in practice; people ready to shoot rivals “resisting arrest,” commit perjury and discontinue investigations into 'flect,' the Red Courts pet drug.
Aspect: “Every Cop Bought And Paid For”
Face: Chief Prescott (RCV manipulator)
Bruce Parker (Pure Mortal)

Wall Street/Goblin Market
Wall Street, as anyone knows, is a major trading hub in both the city and the world, but there's more than just wealthy White Court investors, feeding on the despair of those who lose it all, but an entrance to the Nevernever, as well. Beyond that veil, there's the Goblin Market, a place where Fairy bargains are all that's on the menu. Anything anyone has sold from information to the vision of ones left eye to enchantments and even, some whisper, hidden artifacts and forgotten tomes of lore. The price is rarely in cash, though.
Aspect: “Selling Your Soul On Wall Street”
Face: The Ayoka Group
Grik (Goblin Guide of the Goblin Market)
Torag (Troll Word-Smith)

How that session went.
Well, as roleplayers are wont to, people dropped in somewhere around the agreed-upon time. As it was the first time, ever, that the group had gathered, people started with a beer and getting to know oneanother.

One question had to be settled first. The immediate pitch had been urban fantasy, "somewhat like World of Darkness, but less (or, at least, different) angst," modern fantasy and so on.
I however, realized there were three different options: Historical (like, Dark Ages), Pre-Changes and Post-Changes. We opted for "Pre-Changes, but the Vampire Wars are going on, even if we aren't actively involved."

As one player, the one playing Takeru, was really excited getting to character creation, we went against the standard paradigm and made characters first, spending a lot of time jamming over backgrounds, revising, getting new ideas and then changing them again. This'd go on throughout the whole session.

Now, we'd been struggling to find a date we could all attend for a month or two, so I'd stolen made up a couple of suggestions. As the others didn't really have any suggestions, I pitched a couple of ideas.

• New York (focusing on Manhattan)
• Baltimore (using the pre-gen city)
• Travelling (aspects for the campaign style, not for individual locations)
• London
• Los Angeles
• Fictional city

I made my case for why I thought each would be interesting:

• Manhattan is a huge city, it's very urban and I want to do something about all the ghosts that's gotta be left behind from 9/11. People thought it was a good idea, alas no body could figure out a good plot for a few thousand ghosts to be involved in.
• Baltimore. It was pre-gen and if we used that we could start playing that evening. While that did have appeal, it didn't come up much.
• Travelling. This was pitched like a "wandering the earth" idea, possibly inspired by Supernatural (in a group of four, I was the only one who watched that series at the time).
• London: Old city and I know it well.
• Los Angeles: I still have all the notes from the campaigns I've run in that city, so there's that.
• Fictional city: Making up your own is fun. It is, however, a lot of work.

I made a quick pitch about wanting to use the Goblin Markets, since I'm a big fan of the Fair Folk. I also suggested that the Statue of Liberty would be an awesome magical bunker in the Dresdenverse and both ideas were agreed upon immediately
The only playing Takeru suggested the Malleus Maleficarum, although they didn't have a name originally, though after a while I looked in an oWoD Hunter sourcebook and we agreed that having a name made it easier talking about them. From having talked about an old Dark Heresy campaign earlier, we stole the idea of radicals and puritans and transplanted that onto our guerilla hunters of the supernatural.

After making dinner (a team effort), we continued discussing while eating. I wanted to know how I should run the police (a scale from totalitarian to absent, I believe) and we came upon the idea of a very corrupt police force, which quickly became "vampires are behind it all," with a few WoD fans present
Central Park was settled upon, because having a big park in the city means we needed to use it for something and having it be a social arena for the Fae courts seemed like a great idea. When brainstorming for an aspect, someone mentioned the movie "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and spring again!" which became an aspect and the thought-dead/non-existent Spring Court was decided to return/have returned.

Chinatown came from having a lot of kung-fu movie fans, thousands of clichés to draw from and three words that sprung into my mind "Chinese Ghoul Mobster." He's the John Marcone of New York, though less pleasant and with a good deal more supernatural power to bring to the table. As a ghoul, he doesn't even have a faction to answer to other than his own.

Finally, I wanted the White Court in there somewhere, and the only of the players who (at that time) had encountered the White Court in the books, agreed. We decided that they would feed on despair and control Wall Street partially since I refuse to describe how the characters get sexually aroused. Unless I get a really, really good idea, the Raith will not show up.
Of course, being manipulative bastards, the White Court is almost invisible in the city. For the group, who haven't been there very long, the Akoya Group (stolen from a sticker on someones laptop) is simply another company

My thoughts on the matter:
It went fairly well, though, obviously getting a new group together takes some time.
I liked how it all went and would probably adopt the concept in any other "local" campaign, although aspects took a while sometimes. I would also create characters before the city another time, because for people new to the system, explaining how things work and what sorts of supernatural there are helped a lot later on (although if they've all read a fair part into the series, that last part might not matter).

Having people who want to read the series decide on a timeline would've been easier if I wasn't afraid of spoiling Changes.
I let on that "the Vampire Wars more or less ended during that book and changed a lot of the setting," which is true, if an understatement, though seemed necessary as they didn't understand why it mattered that much.

[Xefas]

Awesome. I think my favorite bit is having the Statue of Liberty work as a magical safe zone - a very cool touch. I'm also interested in how you'll characterize the hypothetical Spring Court. Summer already has all the life and warmth mojo - is Spring just going to share those themes, and use the same kind of Seelie magic?

[Need_A_Life]

(Johan, Benjamin og Mark, det her er ikke noget I bør se)
---
To answer that part:

Spoiler

Show

I plan on Spring reclaiming the aspects of renewal, rebirth, change etc. and initially it'll all be fun and happiness.
As things develop, however, it'll become apparent that the Winter Court now holds most of the power and the players will have to help Faeries (and I know one player already hates the buggers ) of the Spring and Summer Court forge an alliance to keep the natural order from succumbing to Winter.

[Need_A_Life]

Session 2, part 1: Spring Times
Once again, Benjamin was a no-show, so we avoided having to justify him showing up out of the blue. The characters, once more, are:

• Takeru (played by Johan): Infused by the Kami-no-Kaze, Takeru is a skilled warrior and more than a bit unhinged. He favours a brute-force approach and seems mystified by the concept of investigation. Aspect change: "Why Does It Always Happen In My Bar?" for "Never Gets A Day Off"
• Hiroshi (played by Mark): An easy-going Shinto priest whose drinking seems quite understandable considering what he's been going through since he met Takeru. Aspect change: None
• Sir Mark-Game-Night-In-Your-Calendar (played by Benjamin): A weremonkey who has yet to appear on-screen, so to speak.

"There you are." said The Huntsman, grinning at them from the saddle of his deer. His five hounds joined him.
Hiroshi stepped forward and asked, surprisingly calmly, "Have you been looking for us?"
The question seemed to take the Huntsman off-guard, but he recovered fairly quickly. "Indeed. I apologize for the means of your transportation, but it could not have happened otherwise," he said, provoking an eye-roll from Takeru, who saw yet another person trying to get them to work for free, "I would ask you for help with something that may benefit all of us."
Takeru seemed to light up at this, "That sounds like a nice change of pace, what's the job?"
"A trivial thing for your kind-"
"Ah, here it comes," Takeru snorted.
"the release of a prisoner, held by Winter."
"And how will this affect our relationship with Winter? Is this like, a declaration of war on them or something?"
"I expect that any change in your relationship with Winter will be to the positive, if any, though I cannot, of course, predict your exact actions."
"Okay, fine. But if we don't screw up things too bad, then things will be fine?"
"Very likely so and, of course, you'll be rewarded generously for your actions."
That seemed to close the discussion. While they'd had issues with Torag, the troll smith at the Goblin Market, using exact wording to trick them, this Fae seemed strangely honest and straight-forward. Of course, he was still likely getting the better bargain, but their part didn't exactly seem bad and they needed allies in the Nevernever, which they'd figured out by now was where they were.

So, with their deal struck, they mounted one of the pony-sized wolf-dogs and blazed across a landscape of dead fields and withered forests for almost a half hour before reaching a place where a sharp divide between grass-less dirt and thickly snow-covered landscape was.
The Huntsman had explained how he could not follow them into Winter, but explained the route they had to take to reach the prison and its single guardian. They said goodbye to him and entered the realm of Winter.

Being a stranger in the Nevernever, uninvited by Winter and all but a beacon to anything spiritual, Hiroshi was predictably attacked during their trek by a truly huge white wolf that ripped out part of his leg. Of course, his Faith gave some protection and a blast of bright white light scorched the wolf, burning a good deal of its face and fur.
Takeru reacted with incredible speed with the attack against his comrade, slapping the wolf away with the flat of his blade and taking the fight out of the predator completely, who now also had a broken foreleg to deal with.

Being ever unpredictable, the two saw it as the opportunity to talk to their attacker and found out the following:

• They'd been attacked, because they were not 'of Winter.'
• The prison they were travelling to was guarded by a man named Skuld.
• Apparently, not all Nevernever creatures are vulnerable to iron.

The wolf agreed, somewhat hesitantly, to lead them to the foot of the mountain they were travelling to, surprised at the dedication and politeness of the mortals who'd just given it the curbstomp of a lifetime.
Reaching the mountain without further incident, they wished the wolf farewell and started up. Up ahead, they saw a man standing in front of a building not unlike a viking longhouse with his sword out. With a wave of his hand the relatively mild weather became a sudden snowstorm, obscuring their vision. Still, they made a slow approach to the place, where they found the following:

• The longhouse was about 20m tall and the man was similarly proportional to that. This man was a Giant!
• An empty (roughly circular) area in front of the house, marked with a few torches.
• A 15m tall iceberg with the outline of a roughly humanoid creature inside.

"You bear the smell of Spring," he boomed.
"We... figured that," they responded, "We've been sent to get the prisoner, so we can get home. How can we do that?"
"Over my dead body."
"Do you have to die? Maybe a duel."
"A duel under the Code Duello, then."
"You win and we let this go, we win and you give us the prisoner?"
"If you win, I'll be in no position to prevent you. And if I win... neither will you."
Takeru grinned, "Fine,"
His impatience, his hunting instincts and his experience at dealing with monstrous opponents all flared and he drew his katana. "We both have swords, so how's that?"
The giant readied his enormous, frost-encrusted and rune-etched sword for an overhead swing and he nodded.

The ensuing fight was close. Both of them were skilled and honourable combatants; no disarms, no trips and no third-party interference. While Takerus superior speed helped him avoid all but one attack, that single attack did more to hurt him than half-a-dozen attacks had hurt the giant. Worse, the Giants iron blade rendered Takerus toughness and regenerative abilities irrelevant.
[Overall, 16(!)FP was spent during this fight. The last 4-5 exchanges were between two FP-less people, each knowing that a single clean hit could kill them. If it hadn't been for Hiroshi placing "Encouraged" maneuvers for Takeru to tag, the Giant would've had the clear advantage]

The Frost Giant stepped back, lowering his sword. "I concede this fight. You fight well," he said, clearly approving of the small mans skill, even as they were both turning the snow red with their blood.
"You want to do the honours?" he asked, indicating the frozen man. Takeru shook his head, and smiled "No, you do it."

A torch was thrown on the ice, which melted surprisingly quick. A fat, jolly-looking man appeared and looked at the men who freed him.
"Ah, my saviours. I thank you for your deeds-"
"Shouldn't we get out of here before the hordes of Winter come running?" A worried Takeru asked.
"Ah, of course," with a snap of the fingers that seemed more like theatrics than necessity they were back in the dead fields that were suddenly coming back to life.

"I thank you for what you have done for me and my Court," King Oberon of the Spring Court told them, "for your actions, I will offer each of you any one thing within my power,"
Hesitation. "Uhm-"
"You need, of course, not make use of my offer now."
"Ah, great. Thank you."
"But you're wondering what exactly happened..."

[At this point, the plot-reveal was done between players and GM rather than between PCs and NPCs]
The practitioner they'd encountered had been given just enough knowledge about chronomancy to mess it up. This was because A) When the Spring Court (and the Autumn Court) were conquered, it changed the world on a metaphysical level, so any alteration to how things had turned out would need to occur before that change occured, B) Only mortals could intercede in such an event, due to the matter of Free Will and C) While Oberon was freed from his prison by them long ago, he and the Spring Court could only appear in the "now," without messing up the timeline.

Satisfied, the Japanese duo were sent back to New York, where they went home to get themselves a cup of coffee...
Takeru's phone rang, just as he'd poured a cup.
It was Bruce Parker. "Where the hell have you been!? I've been calling you for weeks now! You can't just dump some 17-year-old girl with me and then disappear off the surface of the Earth!"
[Insert roaring laughter from two players who'd forgotten all about that]

After calming down, Bruce Parker had another point, though. "Anyway, you need to get down to the University. Something's happened. Some of your... stuff"

---Next time: Strippers! Shell-shocked Police Officers! Lot's of spitting! All this and more in "DFRPG - Session 2, part 2: Red War"

[Need_A_Life]

Thoughts on this session:

• Leaving the "dead-practitioner-and-then-fairy-shows-up" cliffhanger last time seemed to have the desired effect that players didn't just try to kill him (though I'd love to have seen that particular fight).
• The "random encounter" with the wolf (whose name or title I won't mention openly, until the players realize it. And no, it's not the Fenris) was a simple compel on the "Easily Targeted" aspect Hiroshi has, one of the easiest aspects to compel in the history of FATE. I was surprisingly satisfied with it, although it rolling +, +, 0, 0 and him rolling -, -, -, - meant that he went straight to consequences in the opening round.
  OUCH! Still, the wolf will likely show up again. A scarred wolf they've bested once and then treated nicely? Awesome. Going to have to work him in at a later point.
• The duel with Skuld, the Frost Giant, was awesome! I had statted him out with both sponsored spellcasting, great stats and home-field advantage to challenge them both, but when the idea of a duel reared its head, I knew I had to take advantage of it.
  Without Hiroshis maneuvers, Takeru would have been slaughtered. The one hit the Frost Giant got gave him a Moderate consequence and while both of us considered conceding several times, the thought of "just one more round" kept the fight going. It was an all-in fight and while Takeru landed A LOT of hits, the very long stress track kept the fight going without feeling like grinding.
  Definitely another NPC who will show up again, either as an ally or enemy.
• Wrapping up the plot was Oberon, who explained the parts of the plot that they hadn't figured out for themselves. I think it worked fairly well, all things considered.
• When the players dumped Gabrielle on Bruce Parker, I just knew I had to use him for the next plot hook. The players' reaction alone made it worth it.

[Need_A_Life]

Session 2, part 2: Red War
As this case-file played out immediately following Spring Times, we start in medias res.
The characters, once more, are:

• Takeru (played by Johan): Our crazed swordsman of incredible calibre.
• Hiroshi (played by Mark): Our (understandably) alcoholic priest.
• Master Still-Ain't-Here (played by Benjamin): Master of the mystical Dodging the Plot Style.

Showing up at the University, Takeru went to look for Bruce Parker while Hiroshi asked bystanders and journalists what was going on. He found that:

• A female student had been violently murdered. This was the third fatal attack against students of the university within the last month. Apparently, she'd been impaled on a piece of wood, thrown out of the window and the police had no idea who'd done it.
• The woman was named Kathryn Bryant, a student of history.

Meanwhile, Takeru went with Bruce Parker to look at the crime scene and made a few observations:

• There had clearly been a struggle. Furniture had been knocked over, glass broken and there was an indentation in the wall, as though someone had been thrown against it.
• Kathryn Bryant seemed to be a slob. Papers on her desk were scattered haphazardly, junk food wrappers all but filled the floor and... well, the blood probably wasn't there normally, but still. Messy.
• There was a picture of Kathryn with some friends.

He tried looking at the papers on her desk, but they were apparently just part of some notes on the civil war. Disinterested, the paper went back on the desk, as Takeru kept looking. While Takeru did grumble that this would have been much easier if only he'd been a Wizard, he didn't let that discourage him entirely. They'd start running down leads, Takeru promised in a tone that made poor officer Parker almost regret calling them in the first place.

The duo decided to ask around.

[Lots of boring investigation. I'll have to remember to find some way of spicing that up. Someone kicking in the door with a gun will have to be instituted in the future.

Two things of note: Takeshi tried to climb the outside of the dorms and was spotted by campus security. This led to him eventually being arrested and being in an interrogation room with two Red Court Infected who, very pointedly, told him to stay away from the whole thing.

Second, during his interrogation, he was subjected to narcotic saliva, which left him slightly numb and confused.]

Now they'd found out what was going on. They'd found the lair of the Red Court Vampire, the professor these girls had studied under, who'd infected these poor girls, freed two of them from their narcotic saliva-induced state and, when they were burnt by Hiroshi's touch realized them for what they were. They called Bruce Parker to talk things over.
At this point, we get a cut-scene.

The Professor was telling his underling off for exposing them, ranting about how he's made a mess and that it'd probably get them all killed. Cue underling being sent to clean up the mess.

The duo quickly found themselves swarmed by a small horde of Red Court Infected vagrants and their Red Court Vampire leader. While Takeshi bisected one after another, Hiroshi was battling off the two infected students, who hadn't been able to resist their hunger in the presence of blood. While he was ineffective as a combatant, they were slowly burning up when they touched him, so he could easily keep them both busy. Bruce Parker meanwhile fired slowly and effectively, killing off the infected at a respectable pace for someone who'd never fought the supernatural before.

When the fight was nearly over, a van crashed half-way into the hallway and three people jumped out, all seemingly students, with a huge, black dog. They helped mop up the remaining Red Court on the scene.
As it turned out they were the hunters they'd been looking for, killing these 'vampire spawn' and that big dog of theirs? Oh yeah, they'd summoned it. They had this magic book, yessir.

Fade to black.
---Next time: Dealing with the Professor! Downtime! The White Council makes an Appearance! All this and more in "DFRPG - Session 3: Deaths Portal."

[Need_A_Life]

Thoughts on part 2:

• It was slow.
  I had anticipated that investigative work would make things progress fairly slowly, but players came to a grinding halt and there was a complete lack of initiative. Whether it was just a bad day or what, I'm not sure, but I'll have to remember some "kickstarter"-events in the future.
• Players seem to be "getting" FATE now, so Fate Points, rolls and declarations seem to come more naturally. Still needs work, but we're getting there.
• I suck at names.
  I really need to involve fewer people in a given plot. Also, I need to remind myself to recycle locations and individuals more, because I definitely failed there.
• I'm still annoyed that I haven't found a way to bring in the White Court.

What's going to happen:
(Som altid, folkens, så lad være med at se her hvis I er med i en Dresden Files kampagne i Lyngby og hedder Benjamin, Johan eller Mark)

Spoiler

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I'm fairly sure that the players expect to deal with the Professor and then start a new adventure at the start of the next session. That's not how it's going to go. They're going to go to face him, find him impaled by ghostly stakes and bleeding to death.

• With the Professors death he mutters something: "Memento mori."
  It will be a Campaign Aspect from this point forward. As three out of four members of the group are studying latin and it's a common expression in general, it seems appropriate to not translate it.
• As the players don't have access to The Sight, Psychometry, Thaumaturgy and so on, determining exactly what happened and who did this is going to require further clues. These will (deliberately) not be present at this time.
  Even so, the guy who plays Takeru has Out of Character declared it as his goal to wipe out the Red Court, so he's unlikely to be heartbroken about it.
• We're going to have some downtime to resolve a few things.
  1. It looks like our weremonkey might finally be joining us. He'll need a quick rundown.
  2. Takeru and Hiroshis players were discussing the idea of one of them being the Spring Knight.
  3. Characters can start pursuing things proactively (saving me prep time and sparking ideas)
  4. I'm going to casually mention a couple of rumours for each of them that they hear during downtime. Each will be relevant.
• The next "major event" is going to be the White Council meeting with the Red Court to discuss a truce between them in New York State.
  Needless to say, cluster[#@!$] will ensue.
• At this point, I've planned (mostly), four different routes and mentally prepared myself to wing it.
  1. Serving the Spring Court.
  2. Investigating why the peace talks failed and why someone wants the war to keep going.
  3. Destroying the Red Court. This is going to be a Shadowrun-like preparation, where I think about what the Red Court are doing to protect themselves and players may investigate, confront or sabotage them at will.
  4. Restoring the Balance. They've realized that having Spring, Summer and Winter, but no Autumn is untenable. What I hope to surprise them with is that Winter has the upper hand, as Summer and Spring are sharing the power Summer once needed to solely defeat Winter once a year. Winter is coming and they can either:
  4a. Free Autumn. This requires a journey into Summer, where I'll be using some oriental descriptions, 'cause I found some cool pictures and freeing the Autumn King. Of course, things might not be so simple...
  4b. Imprison Spring. Unlikely, but possible. They are owed favours by the Spring Court, so I doubt they'll throw those away, but imprisoning Spring in Winter would restore the balance.
  4c. Imprison Summer. The most ambitious and over-the-top. I'm actually (no joke) making stats for Titania, if it comes to that. Of course I only see her as being in the ~35-45 Refresh area, so she can be defeated.

Thoughts? Ideas? Pancakes?
Seriously, if you offer pancakes, you can come by any time.

[Need_A_Life]

Session 3 - Deaths Portal (Part 1)
This case-file picks up right where Red War left off. Takeru and Hiroshi are on their way to deal with the Professor. But first, the cast!

• Takeru (played by Johan): Swordsman of the Kami-no-Kaze. Has started to realize that stabbing people to solve his problems may make him a "bad person." Still, a(n attempted) genocide against the Red Court can't be all bad, can it?
• Hiroshi (played by Mark): Our voice of reason, a Shinto priest. Of course, he takes sides in the spiritual conflicts in this session. Aspect Change: Shinto Priest becomes Spring Knight By Necessity.
• Mugu (played by Benjamin): Weremonkey who just can't catch a break. Raised in the Goblin Market, after having been sold to Torag (a troll smith) he's been trying to get people to buy him free. That's where the even-tempered duo of Takeru and Hiroshi comes in.

But first! The University.
Showing up at the Professors office they found him. Well, not at first glance, what with him being impaled on the ceiling by translucent stakes and all. Clearly dying, the Professor was rambling, saying how suddenly he understood, that he'd been used, that the streets would flow red.
Huh. That was oddly dissatisfying, him being practically dead before they could get a decent fight out of him (as Johan whined). Still, he was Red Court so he wouldn't be mourned.

Getting into the "what you don't know might try to kill you too"-mindset, they tried figuring who might have done it. Well, it looked magical, so it might be the White Council. There was a war going on after all, right?
Eh, seems legit.

So, with no lives or save or people to kill, they decided to take a little time off. Takeru visited a catholic church and managed to get his greedy hands on some holy oil to maintain his katana with, not being satisfied with merely able to cut Faeries into pieces, but wanting to add vampires to the list.
Hiroshi felt a moment of inspiration to go to the Goblin Market and Takeru followed him, all the while loudly protesting how unfair it'd been when he'd last been here, which marked him as an easy mark. Takeru bumped into someone who loudly protested how he'd brought in consecrated iron, the Faerie equivalent of enriched uranium into the Market. Takeru felt himself being drawn to battle as the other guy was getting in his face. One quick judo throw later and the guy was sailing through the air...

Mugu was finally going to get free. He'd found some sucker who seemed to be willing to buy him. Oh, yeah! Just the matter of finishing the trans- CRASH!
Some guy flew through the air, hitting Mugus mark and knocking him out cold. Angry and annoyed he started screaming at the shady asian guy who'd thrown him. Hiroshi, being a peacekeeper, Hiroshi kept it all from erupting into a fight and bought the weremonkey from his owner, reducing the time Mugu was to serve from "a lifetime" to "two years."

["So what do you people do?"
"We've got a bar..."
"So you're not out, like, saving the world or anything?"
"Well, I killed 7 Red Court last night, Hiroshi killed two school-girls."
"Hey, they were Infected! Besides, they killed themselves feeding on me!"
"... why didn't I just wait for that other guy to wake up?"]

Okay, planning business. In the middle of the Goblin Market. Well, first, they didn't have any sponsorship and they were basically declaring war on the Red Court. They needed a faction if they wanted to be protected under the Accords and they needed allies to not get squished by the Red Court and its minions.
Since the White Council was already at war with the Red Court, they seemed the obvious people to approach. Despite not knowing all that many people, Mugu was surprisingly good at pickiing up rumours.

Apparently, according to the grapvine, the Red Court and the White Council were meeting in two days, at the Statue of Liberty (the closest Accorded Neutral Ground) to begin peace negotations.
["We have to sabotage that meeting!" Takeru insisted.
"No, if they stop fighting, it'll save countless lives" Hiroshi countered.
"Well, as long as we're fighting the Red Court peace between them means our deaths."
"Not the point. The Red Court would be able to feed at will!"
"They already do that!"]

Well, agreeing to disagree is the sign of great friendship. Insisting that each just gets to try and have the meeting fall out their way... is the sign of a very strange friendship?

Well, with motion tabled, they could move on to the matter of sponsorship. They needed someone with clout to be their sponsor, so that might stop Red Court from just ripping their heads off. Well, they did have a couple of favours owed to them by Oberon (Mugu looked slack-jawed at them) for having freed him from Winter ("I got to fight a Giant!" Takeru bragged).
Takeru wasn't all that interested in the position, fearful that becoming the Knight of Spring might mean the end of killing things that needed killing. Hiroshi didn't have any such worries and, as he justified it to himself, he was already a mediator between spirits and mankind so this would just be him dedicating himself to a particular aspect of the spirit world. Lots of other Shinto priests did stuff like this, right?

So, off to see King Oberon of the Spring Court!
After walking through the realm of Spring a while, they reached his court, where he himself was seated upon a throne that had seemingly grown out of a tree, rather than be carved. Our murderous posse of outlaws were fairly unimpressed.
"Greetings, friends! What business brings you here?"
"Guy here is starting a war with the Red Court," an only slightly intoxicated Hiroshi replied, indicating Takeru. "I'd like you to take up on that favour. I'd like to become the Spring Knight."
Oberon signaled his Lord, the Huntsman, who then left the room to return with a young woman. "In order for the mantle to pass to you, you must first let the power pass back to me."
"Knife," Hiroshi said, receiving one from Mugu, as he took a sip of liquid courage. Then, reluctantly, he walked over and slit the womans throat.

[Johan: "Your kill count is now up to three young women."
Benjamin: "Are you some kind of Jack the Ripper or what?"
Me: "Strictly speaking, that'd be two Red Court Infected and one Knight of Spring."
Johan: "Hey, this wasn't even a fight."
Me: "Still a kill, right?"
Mark: "Why do I keep killing chicks?"
Me: "Chicks! Why'd it have to be chicks?"]

At this point we discussed what his High Concept would become. We settled on "Spring Knight By Necessity," which I'm sure can lead to some fun compels down the road.
With these preparations done, they were ready for the peace negotiations.

Showing up early and waiting, they were there when night fell and the representatives of the Red Court appeared in a speedboat. They recognized Police Chief Preston and some of his Infected police officers, but not the one in the red robe and the smooth golden mask.

Soon after, the Ways opened and an old, bearded Warden, sword and all, came out. The negotiations began between the two robed representatives and, in short, the following information was revealed to our eavesdropping heroes.

• The White Council didn't have any representatives in New York City at all.
• The Red Court were claiming to want the city for themselves so people wouldn't have to die unnecessarily. The Warden, Victor Malich, called that statement for what it was: Bulls**t.
• The Red Court had asked for this truce ("Okay, a truce, not peace"), not the White Council. The Councils only concern was the idea of New York as a "recruiting central."

As things were going back and forth, Hiroshi sensed some... spiritual energy in the area. Warden Malich shuddered a moment and then let loose a blast of fire at Mr. Gold Mask.
With the flick of his wrist, the masked Red Court sent the Warden to his knees and Chief Preston and co. dropped their Flesh masks to jump on him!

"Ah, f**k!" Takeru said and jumped into the fray, his sword out, slashing (after only a moment of hesitation) at the Red Court.
Mugu came next, throwing a dagger at one of the Rampires (as in, Red Court Vampires) head. Unfortunately, he saw it coming and dodged it. Leaving Hiroshi to look at the back-and-forth. Calling upon his new-found powers, he thought of the first sunlight of Spring and sent a thin, concentrated line of sun into (and through) the nearest Red Court vampire.
Goldmask saw how, in the span of seconds, two of his people had fallen and the rest would follow soon.
He turned and walked through a Way to disappear.

Chief Preston saw his two remaining minions die. One by a sunbeam and one by being depaitated, while a monkey was clawing his eyes out.
He jumped into the water and started swimming.
[Johan: "Hit him with a sunbeam!"
Mark: "I'll give it a try."
Johan: "He can't exactly use an Athletics dodge in water"]

Unfortunately, the aspect Safe Harbour that Liberty Island has combined with his own speed and skill meant that he was able to dive into the water to avoid the sunbeam.
[Me: That's how you Athletics-dodge in water]
Takeru, unwilling to let his target escape yelled: "Again!"
Alas, Chief Preston was out of range, having exhausted his reserves to get that extra burst of speed.

They helped the Warden up again and asked him why he'd attacked the Red Court all of the sudden. He didn't know what they were talking about. Hiroshi listed some possible explanations, somehow drawing knowledge from being a Spring Knight By Necessity.

• The Red Court could have hit him with psychomancy, though they'd have to be skilled to hide using it as well as they had.
• He could have been exposed to psychomantic implantations earlier, causing him to react to certain triggers.
• He could have been possessed by spirits, demons, ghosts or a thousand other creatures.

Well, regardless, the Warden would look into it. He also didn't sound dismissive about working with them and left a phone number they could call and leave information for him. They also gave him a number for Takerus cell, which he accepted, though how they expected an old Warden to dial a phone successfully was anyones guess.

So, first things first. They were going to go to war. Their bar might be targeted by the Red Court in turn, they figured, so they closed it down for a few days. Shaking hands with each customer as they left, they found two Red Court Infected police officers. The officers were seemingly enough "in-the-know" that they knew the term Red Court and acknowledged that the supernatural existed, though they insisted on their own innocence.
The officers claimed they needed whatever power they could find to keep this city from breaking apart, while Takeru kept insisting that they might one day kill an innocent. Had these police officers known more about Takerus own habits, they might have had a thing or two to say about that, but they didn't.
Reluctantly, under Hiroshis insistence, Takeru let the officers leave.
["I should stop talking to these people and just kill them. Otherwise, I might find out they're innocents," Johan mused]

They found an apartment in an unspecified area of Manhattan, where they could rent an apartment for a few days for cash. Now, they decided, they were ready. Looking up pictures and details on Police Chief Prestons mansion(!) in Staten Island, there was no doubt that he had some serious money and they were betting on security to match.
When they arrived, they saw fewer cameras than they'd expected and no barbed wire or armed guard patrols around the perimeter. Still, they were cautious in their approach.

Hiroshi used his newly-found magic to hex a couple of security cameras, trying to get as many as he could.
Mugu, as a teeny-tiny monkey sprinted across the driveway, climbed the drainpipe and went down the chimney. Knowing that the grate in the chimney would be easy to get open, he made a silent approach.

He made the following observations:

• First room: A ballroom. Expensive candlesticks and other ornaments. Oh, and a woman in some sort of drug haze.
• Second room: Lobby. Apart from the front door, there was also the door to the bathroom.
• Third room: Library. Quality bookcases, old books. Couple of doors.
• Fourth room: Study. Barely managing to stay hidden, Mugu spotted Chief Preston sitting at his desk, his back turned.

Okay, good enough. Returning to the lobby, Mugu opened the front door slightly, letting some light shine out.
Hiroshi thought about waiting until they had more information, but Takeru wouldn't have any of it. He made a beeline straight towards the front door, moving straight into the area still covered by the last functioning cameras.
As the driveway erupted in fire, heat and bits of asphalt Takeru was sent flying into the lobby bruised and battered. The time for stealth was over.

After a quick instruction, Takeru ran straight towards where Preston had been seen. He almost made it, when the redrobed, goldenmasqued guy from before intercepted him and flung a gout of fire at him, which managed to hit.
Then a flange of Rampire goons joined him just as Mugu caught up. The fighting back and forth was intense, although Mugu didn't seem worried; he might be fragile, but no one could lay a finger on him, no matter how hard they tried.
Takeru, meanwhile dispatched the grunts, while trying his skill against the surprisingly skilled swordsman that was Mr. RedRobe GoldFace.
["So, invoke for +2... Maneuver for +2... Hey, he can't have a Weapons skill of 6!" Johan complained in vain.]

By the time Hiroshi (who wanted to hex the landmines an extra time and had to move at a regular human run) arrived at the house, two security people, dressed in body armour and carrying M-16s had burst out from a hidden room and into the lobby. Thinking quickly, he drew on the power of Spring to let the wooden floor grow once more, entangling them to the point of immobility in an instant. Then he could run after the others again...

By now RedRobe had fled and the only Red Court left standing was taken out by one of his sunbeams. "How did that take you two so long?" he asked.
"Quick, check on Preston!"
But off course, having fought loudly for 30 seconds outside his door meant that he'd crawled out the window. Damn.

Takeru took his frustration out on a poor Rampire, who became one of the few people who received an autopsy before death... albeit a messy one.

As all good advent- ummm, barowners' know, the standard procedure at this point is grabbing valuables, clues, soaking the place in gasoline and throwing a match to it. They did.
They got:

• A list of all the Red Court Infected and Rampires in the police force.
• Two M-16s (2x 28 bullets).
• Something that might be a clue... except none of them can read the damn thing.
• One silver candlestick.

Truly, a hoard to be envied.

Stepping out of the burning house, they can hear the sound of sirens coming closer.,,
Fade to black.

---Next time: Running from the police! Yet another power group reveals themselves! Mysterious deaths! The group catches a break!

[Need_A_Life]

Some Thoughts
I've recently realized that challenging a group of two 12 Refresh and one 11 Refresh character is... annoying, to say the least. I either have to have them face world-shaking entities or feel like enemies are little more than mooks.
By this point, I'm fairly certain that if they play their cards right there's little in Our World that would be dangerous enough to make them sweat, unless it had some sort of advantage (ambush, targeting unusual defenses etc.).

Therefore, I've decided that at the beginning of the next session I'll talk to the players about finishing the current story arc (some details below) and then restarting at a lower Refresh-level, either in New York or London (because I've actually been there and love the city something fierce).
The power level would be "Feet in the Water" (20 skill points, 6 refresh) and X Speed, X Toughness and Sponsored

Johan, Benjamin, Mark. Lad være med at læse det her, medmindre I ønsker seriøse spoilers. Og det har I ikke. Basta!
Also, spoilers for Changes

Spoiler

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The masked man, Sarasp Atak, is a Lord of the Outer Night, one of the leaders of the Red Court. He is, however, in disfavour with the Red King and thus will not be invited for that special, lovely ritual we see in Changes.

As Oberon, upon learning that his Knight has declared war upon the Red Court of New York, tries to contain the situation (and ensure the safety of his Knight and domain) by erecting a barrier around New York that prevents people from entering or exiting (this'll of course leave mortals at a loss to explain it), while the issue is dealt with.

When the Red Court ritual goes awry and the destructive force rends the infection from RCIs and destroys every Red Court Vampire, the Ward partially stops the magical energy. The destructive force still works normally on the RCVs and RCI, but Sarasp Ataks own protective abilities combined with Oberons ward won't kill him.
All the energy of the Red Court in New York will, instead of fuelling the spell to go further, will find itself trapped and settle into Sarasp Atak, turning him into something akin to a god, much like the Red King was.

Killing a god won't be easy, so they'll embark on a quest to find a weapon that can actually hurt someone with that much supernatural mojo, travelling to a forgotten and (almost) abandoned location in the Nevernever to find The Shard of Creation, a physically manifested expression of the forces that brought such concepts as 'existence' into being. In game terms, think All Creatures Are Equal Before God only without any divine sponsorship.

The final showdown is planned to occur at the top of the Empire State Building during a lightning storm.

Currently considering whether or not Sarasp will get to fly, just so that he can "dodge" an attack by throwing himself over the side of the building.

[Need_A_Life]

Hrmph. No session this month, I'm afraid.
Bumping the thread to ensure I don't hit the cut-off for thread necromancy.