Factions & Groups

All of the below is just political flavor for the game. And a bare-bones encapsulation of Jim Butcher's sweat and tears. But any of these groups are excellent fodder for stuff in the game.

1. White Council – already covered and full members get the Wizard background edge. But I wanted to add that it's the only mages guild we know of. There could be other smaller, less official guilds that just haven't registered on the White Guild's radar. Or guilds/covens that are avoiding the White Council's radar…


2. Black Council – this is a group of powerful wizards and/or monsters that are trying, for whatever reason, to subvert the White Council's world dominance. At first, only Harry Dresden believed they existed, and he coined the term. But as of the events in Turncoat, at least some members of the White Council were willing to believe his crazy theories.

3. Paranet – This group figures heavily for us. Most likely, the PCs are, or will be, a local cell. This is an underground, laymen's organization of practitioners who act to alert Harry to suspicious occult activity. (Harry's responsibility as a Warden of the White Council includes policing most of North America, so he created this network to assist him in his duties.) If something local happens that the Paranet cell can't handle, the call Harry. Similarly, if he needs to spread word about an invasion of the fey, he sends an alert down the line.

4. The Vampire Courts – I might cover this in more detail in a separate post. Vampires come in three colors of political and biological persuasion: Red, White, and Black Courts. They are ALL evil with only one exception that we know of. I am not going to run an Ann Rice "touch me, I'm ambiguously oriented" vampire campaign. If you encounter a vampire of ANY shade in this game…kill it.

5. Denarians – Fallen angels, now demons. What more do you need to know? They give a mortal incredible power at the cost of his soul. Move along. Seriously.

6. Alphas – A local group of werewolves, and a good example of a Paranet cell. They also represent how superheroes could work in Savage Dresden.

7. Nevernever – Jim Butcher's only failing as a writer - don't hurt me; I recognize that he chose this name very deliberately. It's the faerie world where all the monsters come from. Also used as an in-between point for dimensional travel and teleport. And it's dangerous. Things there don't like things from here. It's controlled by two opposing forces: the Summer House and the Winter House. And each house has three rulers who aren't necessarily aligned with one another. Lots of infighting and use of mortal pawns.

I have to say that what I'm really looking for in this game is something that's easy to prepare for, easy to run, and set in the modern day. Savage Worlds certainly gives me the first two criteria, and using the Dresden Files as a setting amply provides the third. All of the people in this group, except for one guy, have absorbed the books and short stories. I've probably read nearly all of the short stories, and am working my way through a second reading of the novels. Everyone else in the group can boast more than that. Except of course for that one guy, but he is the hardest-core gamer of all of us, so he'll adapt.


The real question is when am I going to run the game? This blog is supposed to be a way to help me dispense my thoughts and pre-game prep-work. But if I'm not careful, it'll just be a way of postponing the game.

To my players, I want to give this list of responsibilities:

1. Given what you know of the game world, or in Rich's case, the generic modern supernatural genre, think about what kind of character you'd like to run.

Like most games set in the modern world, this game is scaled to modern human norms. Yes, you'll encounter supernatural stuff, but not necessarily anything that Karl Kolchak couldn't handle. Do you want to play the psionic noob, the hard-boiled detective/reporter/conspiracy blogger, the college co-ed witch, the soldier just back from overseas, or the normal guy just getting caught up in his friends' situation?

2. What sorts of things would you like to see in a modern day, supernatural game?

Do you want to meet (or be?) Sam & Dean from Supernatural? Prefer to recapture the horror of your Buffy-style high school days? Or do you want to be a military clean-up crew who sweeps this scary stuff under the rug so the norms don't have to worry about it? Or, do you want to be part of a biker club who, amongst other bikery things, looks out for the well being of your town?

3. Bitch at me to run the damned game.

Seriously, without YOU motivating ME, it's not going to happen. I need to know that you guys want to play this thing.