"Pittsburgh has a lot going for it, but it's already spectacularly well represented in gaming, albeit under a pseudonym, so I can pass."

Where?!

I must know!

CU

Very nice work. Baltimore sounds interesting.

I love your logic. Sometimes it seems like you quickly brush off a good city, but it's a fun read nonetheless.

Baltimore seems like a good choice. It's a nice city, was once the home of the greatest wargame company on the planet, and is/was the home of Cal Ripken. Some friends visited once and had great things to say about the city, except there seemed like a lot of one-way streets so you could never get "there" from "here". Other than that I don't know of any major landmarks, buildings, etc that fill up Baltimore, so I don't quite know what to expect. Looking forward to what you put together!

I also am curious about your Pittsburgh under another name reference.

Baltimore ended up hitting some doubly good notes as I started researching (more on that soon) so I'm definatley pretty excited to use it.

And as for Pittsburgh, it is prominently placed in the Exalted setting. :)

-Rob D.

"the high culture freak city of Texas" I just love that quote. And it is so very true!

I figured that Miami would've been a good choice because it's one of the actual points on the so-called Bermuda Triangle.

I'm glad you picked Baltimore. Homicide: Life on the Streets and Dresden Style magic. MMMm :D

Actually, had Fred been the one doing this section, there's a decent chance it might have been Miami or some other representative of Florida. He's got the love.

I've only recently become aware of how much fantastic Florida crime fiction there is - a few years ago I would have just thought "Miami Vice" and left it at that, but now I think of Florida as this magnificent combination of vibrant energy and redolent heat, like somebody took the south of William Faulkner, put it in a shaker with some Dashell Hammit and poured it over crushed mint leaves. Florida is it's own world, and liek New York and some of the other places we looked at, it's almost too powerful a presence if done right, and if done wrong....well, why bother?

Looks like you made a great choice! I feel cheered that my city of Philadelphia made the top three. :D

As a New Orleanian, I'll just casually mention that we are a bit more than the Anne Rice novels :) More than the history, the feel of New Orleans is like no place else and I'll probably base my campaign there. I'll also hope that the RPG is successful enough to plan expansions and city guides and stuff like that.

Heh. I actually figure most of these cities have more depth than I give them. There's a certain component of perception that I was also trying to juggle. Practically speaking, the new World of Darkness is using New Orleans as it's default, which kind of puts dibs on it. New Orleans is also kind of topical at the moment, which is always rough
for putting in print.

-Rob D.

As I'm a Pitsburgher I was disappointed when you dropped it from the list. Living in Va. now I held out hope for Richmond, but my wife and I both cheered when Baltimore won out. Did you guys consider the Hampton Roads area at all? Lots of Civil War history, large military presence, and aits a thoroughfare of the drug/arms trade.

As a New Orleanian transplanted into Austin, I applaud your decision to toss Austin without thinking- it's not a dark place. I also deeply appreciate your respect to my battered hometown.

Awww, Burlington would have been neat in that I could look out my window and see the location Im trying to describe, but as a city to base a game in, I think not. Too small, too accepting, no real place for baddies to hide in.

YES!!!!! As a Marylander, you just not only clinched the sale of the game, but drew three of my fellow gamers who aren't into Dresden into this game. I'm GIDDY!

I grew up in New Orleans and I will say that no matter what you hear or read if you do not experience the depth of culture and history that is New Orleans you will miss the best of this dark mysterious lady. The news has blown the destruction in New Orleans out of proportion. Flux has always been a part of the New Orleans culture. You should reconsider leaving it out of the RPG or at the least plan an additional book later in publication. I now live in Baltimore and I have to say as a long time gamer this town definately has some excellent history including the occurances of mystical or supernatural stories. I wish you the best of luck and hopefully will see some of the local color make it into your book. I look forward to the stories you choose and the system you develope. I have introduced Dresden's world to my roleplaying group and continue passing on Jim Butcher's writting to anyone who will read it.

Man, I've lived in Austin all of my life and there is some seriously creepy shit you guys are missing. However, I still applaud the decision to move it away from Austin becase 1. Austin was one of the feature cities for In Nomine, and 2. Baltimore hasn't had a gane yet and I think it's high time it did.
Kudos!

P.S.
Dude this game is gonna rock!

Sounds like you put a good amount of thought into the City elimination process.Baltimore sounds good, never been there,will have to start doing some research.Nice to have you pick a city that hasn't been overdone in gaming. Looking forward to the game.The group of friends i game with are waiting to be introduced to Harry's world,afraid i have been going on and on about Harry for some time. good luck and hope to be able to get the game soon..

I was rooting for Atlanta as I read down the list, and I was surprised it surived the cut as long as it did. I might consider setting a game in Asheville, NC where I now live, but I think it might take more effort to incorporate the detective themes than the magical ones! It's a strange place, and all manner of weird things could hide among the mortals here and even seem relatively normal in comparison.

Keovar Arcanes

At some point, when you're looking to expand into other books in other cities, I really suggest you take a look at Vancouver. It's got a really unique flavor.

You know ... that sounds great, but you should also leave it at the game master and the gaming crews' discretion. Base it in Baltimore but allow it to go where it may. Inthe books there are a lot .. and I mean a lot of other wizards around that live in different cities. So let it be expandable to where we may go.

You may wnat to add little blurbs about some of the other major cities and maybe a "Whos, who?" in magic and the arcane around them.

As it happens, Matthew, that's exactly what we're doing. Baltimore is just being selected as the *example* of how to take a city you're familiar with and convert it into a Dresdenified city.

You're *supposed* to expand it to whatever you want -- that's the point of using Baltimore as an illustrative example. :)

Just something interesting, using Baltimor, if you expand out in a 200 mile radius think of all the cities you hit, along with hitting some of the largest National Parks in the Eastern US. *chuckles* if you expand out and use that as a hub it could be quite interesting because you are not quite northern, not quite southern, but somewhere in between and there are alot of battlefields within a couple of hours drive.

Luke

XD

As a New Yorker, I would, in fact, find NYC a very interesting challenge. Besides, consider this-- within NYC, there are the burroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, etc. You could just do a Manhattan setting or something.

If not, though, I do hope I'll have some flexibility in customizing my own game outside of Baltimore. I've never been there, so therefore, it does not exist.

eh, I know its a bit late, but I was pulling for Richmond while reading, simply because its the closest to me... haha. I'm sorry you're a yankee ;-) I have several college buds from Baltimore and I think it is a great choice.

I was thinking on London, eventhough you said you wanted an American city, but as with NY and LA, it is a bit big and spread out into so many different areas and neighborhoods that it wouldn't be any eaiser.

DC would have been awesome, but as you said, without the whole government intervention and what-not it would be lacking :-(

I don't think I've ever seen such random logic in choosing something from a list... I like it. Have to say Baltimore sound cool but Miami might have had something going for it. And as resident of England, I have to say "what? Nothing from this side of the pond? I reckon there's potential for an expansion later on then..."

I take it there is the possibility of supplemments for different cities in the future? Would be nice to be able to expand to some of the other cities on the list and possibly some European ones as well?

Good point on Baltimore...But I was hoping for Austin ..well because I am from Texas...Houston could have been an alright choice since it has the most hauntings in Texas. Tons of spooky stuff because of the smaller out lining cities. Galveston and Kemah have a ton of spooky history.