[Brainstorming] Old-timey fantastic New Orleans-esque city campaign

[Pielorinho]

I have no idea at all if this will be any use to you, but over a decade ago, a couple of my friends wrote up an alternate New Orleans for the Vampire game. It received pretty high reviews on the nascent Web, and it's still available on several different sites. Some of the characters and intrigue in it may be useful.

Daniel

 

[Kunimatyu]

Thanks for all the resource info, guys!

I bought the Katrina relief PDF today -- the magic systems and some of the monsters will definitely be making an appearance! I am disappointed it didn't have a "skeeta hawk", but I'll just have to make one myself...

I own Skull and Bones, but I doubt I'll use it, since its version of voodoo is very fantastic in nature, and very loa-centric.

How much content on "New Orleans" does Northern Crown have? At this point, what is most valuable to me is detailed location information, so I can flesh out the districts the PCs will be spending most of their time in. I'm also going to start making organizations for the city as well.

 

[I'm A Banana]

How much content on "New Orleans" does Northern Crown have? At this point, what is most valuable to me is detailed location information, so I can flesh out the districts the PCs will be spending most of their time in. I'm also going to start making organizations for the city as well.

My books are about a thousand miles away, but it's not much, IIRC: just a page or so in the main book. The Gazetteer might have more, but I couldn't tell ya.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I just thought of a tie-in with Southern Comfort & Hambly's "Ben January" stories that you might like:

The movie is full of swampland & the kinds of mantraps & ambushes you can set there...and of course, there is the hazard of gators & other predators. The books detail the daily life of the underclass. You could use Lizardmen or their equivalent to fill that Cajun trapper, slave & Alligator roles simultaneously.

(Kobolds could also be used, as could Gnolls, Goblins, or Orcs with the Reptilian template. Modified Kuo-Toa, Sahaugin, Locathah or other bipedal aquatic races might also work with some work.)

As sentients that are somewhat looked down upon by other races, they're ideal for the role of slaves/day laborers, working in the city by day, by night, living on the city's periphery, in "unwanted wastelands." Their underestimated intellects, natural cunning, and having swamps as a homeland make the bayous surrounding the city incredibly dangerous.

That way you REALLY capture some of the paranoia that the ruling class had at being surrounded by an underclass of servants who could rise up at any time...a society balanced precariously on the edge of upheaval.

 

[Kunimatyu]

I just thought of a tie-in with Southern Comfort & Hambly's "Ben January" stories that you might like:

The movie is full of swampland & the kinds of mantraps & ambushes you can set there...and of course, there is the hazard of gators & other predators. The books detail the daily life of the underclass. You could use Lizardmen or their equivalent to fill that Cajun trapper, slave & Alligator roles simultaneously.

(Kobolds could also be used, as could Gnolls, Goblins, or Orcs with the Reptilian template. Modified Kuo-Toa, Sahaugin, Locathah or other bipedal aquatic races might also work with some work.)

As sentients that are somewhat looked down upon by other races, they're ideal for the role of slaves/day laborers, working in the city by day, by night, living on the city's periphery, in "unwanted wastelands." Their underestimated intellects, natural cunning, and having swamps as a homeland make the bayous surrounding the city incredibly dangerous.

That way you REALLY capture some of the paranoia that the ruling class had at being surrounded by an underclass of servants who could rise up at any time...a society balanced precariously on the edge of upheaval.

Just got the Ben January book today -- I'll be starting it in, oh, about 15 minutes.

I think the underclass struggle has to be there for the setting to breathe. I am, however, thinking about using the Gith (who in this campaign setting have slightly webbed feet, think Puddleglum in CS Lewis's Silver Chair) in that slave/underclass role. Gatorpeople and various other reptilian races will be present to some degree and be in that same underclass position.

I like the gatorfolk as the cunning trappers -- they're not exceptionally smart, but they know the swamp inside and out, and they've got a taste for humanoid flesh. They'll be present in the city, mostly as unskilled slave labor, but they're very dangerous just outside the city.