Dresden Files Game

[Vknight]

So I'm working on a Dresden Files game some initial setup stuff as the current campaign my group is doing should come to an end by around mid-June to mid-July.
And after getting some stances the current debate is between Boston and Montreal for where to set the city so I came to the playground to see if they had any opinions or helpful ideas.

[Actana]

On the choice of the city, it all depends on what those cities can offer. I can't say I'm terribly familiar with either of the choices you presented, but see what kind of High Concept aspect you could apply to either of them and see which you like more. Just as Chicago is called the crossroads of the world in the novels, so too should the city you choose have its own tagline and city sheet that is provided in the rules. In the Dresden game I'm in at the moment, we're in London and calling it the melting pot, which in turn means that we can find all sorts of people and creatures in the city. You'll definitely want to emphasize on the city a lot, find what kind of things you can put into it.

So, I suppose the next question is: why either Boston or Montreal? What are the two cities offering that interests your group, and what are the pros and cons of each?

[Vknight]

Well they have very differing reasons to them

Montreal has a real divide from its proximity to the US and Ontario. It also has the nickname of the City of Steeples(and the City of Saints), it really embodies that Canadian divide between most of the the country and Quebec and the sparks which can fly between the two. Along with a very large Catholic population.
Further its an island which adds a lot of cool magic elements to it
Its got a lot of similarities in those regards to Chicago thanks to location placement and a economic and travel center
That gives it a good nexus of power and conflict between people and groups.

Boston has a huge art culture and identity with being a city for artists, being the Athens of America among other things.
Unlike Montreal which is more routed in tradition and opposition Boston is routed in innovation and moving forward.
It also has done historically well in sports and been involved in important parts of history and political movements
Despite the history and economic strengths it has companies have gone elsewhere and prices for real-estate have risen.

All said the two cities have many powerful similarities and differences.
Both have lost business and economic growth but for vastly different reasons. Both are still economically powerful with a strong identity and pride.
Both are around water and provided a diverse well still being unique identity.

Boston gives me an identity of technology, innovation and striving to move further ahead which means I can use the other muses, along with that willingness to sacrifice despite the cost.
Well Montreal gives me a strong conflict of identity between provincial and national among others.

[Actana]

With that in mind, sounds like Montreal might be a better fit at least as far as the supernatural community goes. Wizards would likely be drawn more to the traditionalism rather than technological innovation, and the various supernatural creatures and organizations thereof also are steeped in tradition. Montreal also has a bit better conflict going on with its identity than Boston, the latter's feels a bit vague to me. I like the island too, it certainly allows for potential.

That said, the two are still (relatively) close to each other. There's no reason you couldn't use both in the same game, with something of a supernatural rivalry between the two cities and their ideologies.

[Vknight]

With that in mind, sounds like Montreal might be a better fit at least as far as the supernatural community goes. Wizards would likely be drawn more to the traditionalism rather than technological innovation, and the various supernatural creatures and organizations thereof also are steeped in tradition. Montreal also has a bit better conflict going on with its identity than Boston, the latter's feels a bit vague to me. I like the island too, it certainly allows for potential.

That said, the two are still (relatively) close to each other. There's no reason you couldn't use both in the same game, with something of a supernatural rivalry between the two cities and their ideologies.

True on the proximity

I like Boston for the fact it draws a strong culture of faeries, young wizards(especially those from wizarding bloodlines), and minor talents.
But yeah Montreal looks better as a city with threats well Boston is better for a city built around themes.

[Beelzebub1111]

I have a tendancy to set games to places that I'm familiar with. For a couple reasons, but mostly because supernatural stories are great for New Jersey. We have a state magazine dedicated to the weird happenings in my home state.

Wherever you decide to set up your game, look up real life local rumors, urban legends, and tall tales to lend some color to your game. People actually see things, you know? Or they think they do, and if they believe it, so can your players.

[Vknight]

I have a tendancy to set games to places that I'm familiar with. For a couple reasons, but mostly because supernatural stories are great for New Jersey. We have a state magazine dedicated to the weird happenings in my home state.

Wherever you decide to set up your game, look up real life local rumors, urban legends, and tall tales to lend some color to your game. People actually see things, you know? Or they think they do, and if they believe it, so can your players.

A very good point, thanks for that suggestion.

[TeChameleon]

One other thing that might play into things- Montreal may be steeped in traditionalism, but the music scene there is tremendously vibrant- it's home to the largest jazz festival in the world, for one thing (the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal), and is the hometown of Jazz legend Oscar Peterson. Most of the group Simple Plan apparently hails from there too (whether this is a plus or a minus depends on perspective, I guess...), and there are a surprising number of actors and whatnot hailing from the area- it's got a very strong creative community, I guess is what I'm saying.

Some brief Montreal notes that might help-

Hockey is somewhere on the borderline between being Canada's national sport (well, national winter sport- summer sport is lacrosse, which is even more violent) and our national religion, and almost nowhere more so than Montreal.

If any of your PCs make the mistake of wearing a hockey jersey for the wrong team (i.e. any team except the Montreal Canadiens, the town's beloved 'Habs'), they run a rather stronger risk than an American would expect of being dragged into an alley and having the crap beaten out of them, especially during playoff season... and especially if they're dumb enough to wear a Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, or Ottawa Senators jersey, the hated traditional enemies of the Habs).

We Canucks, as a general rule, are not given to violence... except on hockey night. Apparently it's our biggest outlet for repressed aggression

That being said, at one of my old jobs, they referred to freaking out and attempting to beat whatever you were trying to repair to death with the heaviest tool available as 'going French-Canadian on it'. The French are a passionate people, and French-Canadians are no exception That being said, the 'cheese-eating surrender monkey' stereotype... doesn't... really work here in the Great White North. A French-Canadian is rather more likely to rip the white cloth off and attempt to bean you with the pole than to surrender if you try giving them a white flag.

If you play a game that shuttles back and forth between Boston and Montreal ('close' is relative here- it's still a ~5 hour drive- could be fun if the group has a full-on White Court wizard... 'what do you mean, the car broke down again?'), the Francophones of Montreal will be far more willing to (try to) speak English to them if they clarify that the PCs are American- if they think that they're from Ontario, they'll get French or nothing (or maybe some verbal abuse...). Also, native Francophones tend to speak very very fast, no matter what language they're speaking.

Aaaand as one final note, the Candian opinion of American beer is rather low. 'Water' being the more polite end of the spectrum, and 'watered-down horse piss' being the... less polite end. At the very least, if the PCs wander into a Montreal bar and try to order a Bud Light, they're likely to get some mockery. And possibly free beer, if any of the other patrons are in a good enough mood, since they'll want to demonstrate what 'real beer' tastes like... which in turn could possibly lead to a (largely good-natured) bar brawl over which brewery makes better beer. Followed by more free beer as both (or more...) sides attempt to sway the PCs to their side of the 'conflict' Granted, all that's not terribly likely in modern Montreal... but I'm not sure there's anywhere in the world that I'd be less surprised at it happening.

(Disclaimer: while I am Canadian, the closest I've been to Montreal was a brief stay in Toronto years ago. If you need firsthand info on Vancouver or Edmonton, I can probably help. Montreal not so much- this is all based on limited interaction with French-Canadians and reading )

[Vknight]

One other thing that might play into things- Montreal may be steeped in traditionalism, but the music scene there is tremendously vibrant- it's home to the largest jazz festival in the world, for one thing (the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal), and is the hometown of Jazz legend Oscar Peterson. Most of the group Simple Plan apparently hails from there too (whether this is a plus or a minus depends on perspective, I guess...), and there are a surprising number of actors and whatnot hailing from the area- it's got a very strong creative community, I guess is what I'm saying.

Some brief Montreal notes that might help-

Hockey is somewhere on the borderline between being Canada's national sport (well, national winter sport- summer sport is lacrosse, which is even more violent) and our national religion, and almost nowhere more so than Montreal.

If any of your PCs make the mistake of wearing a hockey jersey for the wrong team (i.e. any team except the Montreal Canadiens, the town's beloved 'Habs'), they run a rather stronger risk than an American would expect of being dragged into an alley and having the crap beaten out of them, especially during playoff season... and especially if they're dumb enough to wear a Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, or Ottawa Senators jersey, the hated traditional enemies of the Habs).

We Canucks, as a general rule, are not given to violence... except on hockey night. Apparently it's our biggest outlet for repressed aggression

That being said, at one of my old jobs, they referred to freaking out and attempting to beat whatever you were trying to repair to death with the heaviest tool available as 'going French-Canadian on it'. The French are a passionate people, and French-Canadians are no exception That being said, the 'cheese-eating surrender monkey' stereotype... doesn't... really work here in the Great White North. A French-Canadian is rather more likely to rip the white cloth off and attempt to bean you with the pole than to surrender if you try giving them a white flag.

If you play a game that shuttles back and forth between Boston and Montreal ('close' is relative here- it's still a ~5 hour drive- could be fun if the group has a full-on White Court wizard... 'what do you mean, the car broke down again?'), the Francophones of Montreal will be far more willing to (try to) speak English to them if they clarify that the PCs are American- if they think that they're from Ontario, they'll get French or nothing (or maybe some verbal abuse...). Also, native Francophones tend to speak very very fast, no matter what language they're speaking.

Aaaand as one final note, the Candian opinion of American beer is rather low. 'Water' being the more polite end of the spectrum, and 'watered-down horse piss' being the... less polite end. At the very least, if the PCs wander into a Montreal bar and try to order a Bud Light, they're likely to get some mockery. And possibly free beer, if any of the other patrons are in a good enough mood, since they'll want to demonstrate what 'real beer' tastes like... which in turn could possibly lead to a (largely good-natured) bar brawl over which brewery makes better beer. Followed by more free beer as both (or more...) sides attempt to sway the PCs to their side of the 'conflict' Granted, all that's not terribly likely in modern Montreal... but I'm not sure there's anywhere in the world that I'd be less surprised at it happening.

(Disclaimer: while I am Canadian, the closest I've been to Montreal was a brief stay in Toronto years ago. If you need firsthand info on Vancouver or Edmonton, I can probably help. Montreal not so much- this is all based on limited interaction with French-Canadians and reading )

Reading a post from a Canadian telling a Canadian about Canada...

But yeah close is relative its not close like say Newmarket is to Toronto.
Montreal is good for proximity and it does not have as many people that fall to the stereotypes of what one should suspect when in Quebec(I did and have not enjoyed my time in Quebec outside of Montreal)
I actually saw something like that happen last time I was in Montreal, it was rather funny to see.
Toronto is cool for how its growth has happened. Also it being so close to my hometown wins it more points. I can tell you from my personal experience outside of Montreal the stereotypes you probably have are far to true in form with the people

[TeChameleon]

Reading a post from a Canadian telling a Canadian about Canada...

But yeah close is relative its not close like say Newmarket is to Toronto.
Montreal is good for proximity and it does not have as many people that fall to the stereotypes of what one should suspect when in Quebec(I did and have not enjoyed my time in Quebec outside of Montreal)
I actually saw something like that happen last time I was in Montreal, it was rather funny to see.
Toronto is cool for how its growth has happened. Also it being so close to my hometown wins it more points. I can tell you from my personal experience outside of Montreal the stereotypes you probably have are far to true in form with the people

... oop. Sorry 'bout that. I didn't realize there was a Durham in Ontario... don't know why I'm surprised, really, but there you go.

*snerk*

Clearest memory I have of Toronto is arriving, being picked up from the airport by my hosts, and them apologizing on account of it being rush-hour. My response was (almost verbatim, from what little I can remember) "Rush hour? What do you mean rush hour? The traffic's still moving..."

Can you tell I grew up in Vancouver, land of the 7-9 and 4-7 parking lot? >.<

[Vknight]

... oop. Sorry 'bout that. I didn't realize there was a Durham in Ontario... don't know why I'm surprised, really, but there you go.

*snerk*

Clearest memory I have of Toronto is arriving, being picked up from the airport by my hosts, and them apologizing on account of it being rush-hour. My response was (almost verbatim, from what little I can remember) "Rush hour? What do you mean rush hour? The traffic's still moving..."

Can you tell I grew up in Vancouver, land of the 7-9 and 4-7 parking lot? >.<

Nah Durham is where I am living currently in North Carolina... sadly haven't had time to go back to Ontario for the last 3 years which is annoying

Eh don't worry on it, Raleigh is much the same and its about 20 to 30 minutes from here so I've seen the sea of cars.

Whelp we lost a play in the Eclipse Phase campaign because to much innuendo... 3 of the group have Hedonism as a positive on there motivations it should have been expected.

[Beleriphon]

.Can you tell I grew up in Vancouver, land of the 7-9 and 4-7 parking lot? >.<

Its worse most days. You've never seen the start of the Weekend Warrior Rush, nor its end. I live outside of Kingston ON and if I want anything in Toronto on a weekend during the summer I always go Friday evening or Saturday since anything else is madness. And likely to end in my tiny car crush between SUV behemoths and boat trailers.

As for Boston vs Montreal I'll point something out. Autoroute 20 effectively ends in Montreal, and Autoroute 20 connects to Highway 401 at the Ontario border. That route (HWY 401 to AR 20) has half of Canada's population living along the route. Not half or Ontario, or half of Quebec. Half of the entire country. That's roughly 20 million between Windsor and Montreal of land nearly 20 million live. One end of the corridor is in Montreal and the other in Windsor ON at the US border.

Montreal is also one of Canada's largest ports, with it being situated on the St Lawrence. And most of the goods come from Europe, which is fun since European creatures and supernatural types would find it an easy to enter North America, and probalby like the like the town since it has this very Old World vibe, with the North American sensibilities. This isn't surprising since it's one of North America's oldest settlements being founded May 17, 1642. So as of May this year Montreal will be 374 years old. Plus, it has that wacky Olympic Stadium that is one part run down piece of crap, one part outdoor activity venue for locals, and another part tourist trap.

Mount Royal would make a fantastic magical gathering spot, and it even has the thoroughly Canadian Lac aux Castors (that's Beaver Lake in English), which is more a giant concrete pond these days.

[Vknight]

Thanks for all the help as sadly things came up for the Eclipse Phase we will likely being ending that sooner then I would have wished but what can you do when 2 of your 5 players are unable to make sessions.
So the information provided is very useful as we figure out our plans for the Eclipse Phase game and Dresden Files.

Also a link to a recruitment thread
So yeah I included all the details here, thanks again for the aid guys and if anyone has interest take a look.