How this sucker's going to work. (Read me first please)

Most of you who know me, know that I am a fan of World of Darkness games and White Wolf/Onyx Path Games Studio.

But one of the things that I really enjoy is making the details that surround my characters.  I like making the people and places that my characters bounce off of during the course of regular play. It's actually kind of rare for me to make a character anymore that doesn't have some built-in kind of soap opera going on his background.

And you know, with a sandbox style of play, it has become interesting to me to watch OTHER people bump into my bits of story. I enjoy the feeling as a storyteller or as a player to see people interact with the things i've made.

So, on those occasions when I am playing a larp or Java-chat game, and the Storytellers allow me to do so. I like to create those things and add additional toys to the sandbox we're all playing in.

I call it, "Painting the Corners of the World of Darkness"

This blog will be a repository for those sorts of things. 

The Content will consist of the following:

• Floaters are NPC's that your players can bump into in play, that aren't necessarily attached to a specific character or NPC. For instance, any game set in a city is going to need someone who can manufacture fake identification. I've seen exactly ONE PC that was built around this concept in my whole career as a gamer. So, odds are good that there's a NPC out there who does this sort of work, and maybe he knows stuff and maybe he don't  Crimelords, Crazy street people, members of the city council, any person like that.    This is the World of Darkness, so expect that any portrayal of race, creed, orientation,gender, religion, and political, and mental pathology is, by the very nature of the WOD, unflattering.

• Drop ins A drop-in is a description of a place, and maybe there's hinky supernatural stuff going on, and maybe there isn't. A drop-in normally has a full description of a place and some text about the people that normally inhabit it. Nightclubs, strip bars, all-night gas-n-go, stuff like that.

• Widgets: Things with some kind of mystical juice that are floating around the supernatural landscape of your town. Mostly this will be a description of the item and just a bit about what it does. But you don't want to go into a lot detail, which i'll explain in just a bit.

• Legends: The sort of urban/campfire story that never really goes away. Is it true? Is it bullshit?  Maybe someone should go down to the docks and find out.

The one rule I'll try to adhere to in making these things is that I'm not going to get terribly hung up on mechanics. I'm not writing these things for ONE game. I'm writing them for ALL the World of Darkness games. In fact, if I can stay away from mechanical stuff and using too much setting material, there's no reason whatsoever that you can't co-opt these people,places, and things for whatever modern/urban fantasy game that turns your crank.  By statting something up for a specific game system, I might make it unusable elsewhere.  A human that is a stiff crunchy antagonist for Werewolf is liable to be a real problem in something else. An antagonist who is pretty crunchy to a Vampire might be Hors de Combat in a Mage or Werewolf game.

The premise behind this is to make it look as if you've done an enormous amount of work detailing YOUR world of darkness. And if you want to file off the serial numbers so people don't necessarily know everything about these things, You are MORE than welcome to do so.

A word about Comments:

Have suggestions and thoughts that I might have missed. I WELCOME additional possibilities and flourishes in the comments.  

Also: If you use something like this in your game, I'd like to hear about it. Tell me how it went.  Hell, If it's cool enough, I'll add it to the characters backstory with your kind permission.

The Caboose

Nestled in the Industrial district, this strip bar has stayed in continuous business since the late 80’s. It’s part of a chain of independent franchisees, and the original owner, who still owns about a quarter of the place, hit on the idea of a train-themed strip club.  It appeals to the Honky-Tonk crowd mostly, and on weekends fills up with college kids who think they can rock a cowboy hat and a pair of kicks.

The Caboose is a full nude club. County statutes being what they are, The Caboose is not allowed to have a liquor license of its own. But it gets around this by allowing BYOB service and provides a full range of soft drinks. They even sell O’Douls.  The Package Liquor place about 4 blocks from here gets a pretty good workout on the weekends. The storage behind the bar for customer alcohol is quite large, and the ice maker is enormous.

The Club is open from 11am to 4am every day, It only closes on thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Memberships, which mean you don’t have to pay cover except on weekend evenings, are available for 50 bucks. Cover is 12 bucks, unless you come in before 6pm, in which case, cover is 6.

The club normally has two states. Near empty or full up. When full, there is usually a lot of stress, one or more of the restrooms breaks, and there is a thick haze of cigarette and blunt smoke that hangs in the air. Near empty means one or two duffers come in with nothing better to do and DJ PsychoPirate tries to figure out ways to get them to leave.  she’s driven off more day-time customers with Ben Folds “Brick” than any other song.  When the club is completely empty, a low grade rash of horoscope and crossword puzzle addiction sets in.

A full daytime roster is usually 5-7 girls, upgrading to 10-12 in the evenings, and bumping up to 20 on the weekends.

Front foyer

The front foyer is about the size of two phone booths put together. It’s dominated by a cigarette machine, a key-locked glass cabinet which features club related merchandise and low-cost porn on DVD, an ATM machine with an obscene 8 dollar service charge, and the front desk.

    The front desk is usually manned by Frank, who is usually surly and nose deep in a graphic novel or by one of the waitresses or dancers who can’t work their regular shift for whatever reason. (“female problems” won’t necessarily get you sent home immediately.)

Main stage area/Couch dance areas

Once past Frank, you walk into the sleazy splendor of the main stage area.

The Main stage is a three quarter thrust stage with single pole. The stage is surrounded by rolling chairs on all three sides. This referred to by the staff and certain savvy customers as “Perverts Row”. There are large screen TV's on either side of the main stage that are normally tuned to sporting events. 

Past that venturing away from the stage, is an area of rolling chairs and low tables, and further still is an area of tall tables, with tall chairs that are near to the bar.  On each side of the main showroom are cubicles with low couches for the couch dancing.  Train memorabilia plasters the walls and many of the lights in the room are modeled after train lights, switching lights and hand lanterns.  Even the low couches are modeled after passenger train accoutrements, but that rarely gets noticed by the customers. The carpet in here has old train line logos, but it’s so old it’s hard to make out any of the fine details. 

Bar

The bar is a long low expanse of dark formica, slightly recessed into the floor.  The back wall is given over to stacks and stacks and stacks of glow-in-the-dark plastic cups. Someone screwed up and ordered like 10 gross of the damn things. But since, they’ve found it’s helpful to have way more on hand than they really need. Under the bar itself are large bins for ice, at least one shotgun, and a baseball bat.  There is also a large garbage can. They’ve found it’s just easier to throw the fucking things away rather than wash them.  There is also a small store of actual glassware. When the servers roll around and ask those purchasing a couch dance if they would like to buy the lady a drink, that drink is served in an actual glass.  Of course, most of the dancers never drink the damn things. 

Behind the bar:

The space behind the bar holds an enormous and quite possibly indestructible Manitowoc brand ice-maker. A rack holds the syrup bags for the soda guns and two large reach in coolers hold the O’Douls, and any “Customer” brought alcohol. as well as the Non-alcoholic champagne.  The back door of this room enters the Manager’s office. The door right next to it on the right is the maintenance closet.

Manager’s Office:

Carl Bodley’s office is a grim little meathook hole in the wall. The flourescent lights make everything in here look unhealthy and a bit sticky. This effect is accentuated by the stacks and stack of glossy porn flyers that are gathering dust on every flat surface in here. The wall safe looks like it’s from the civil war, but it’s still plenty sturdy. There have been a number of attempts over the years to jimmy it open. Carl’s impressive bulk takes up most of the office when he’s in it, and since he’ s a little claustrophobic, he tend to roam around the floor during regular business hours.  The only time you’ll find him in here is after closing and on those occasions when he has to chew someone out. Most of the staff dread being called to the office as a direct result. Carl is usually kind of douchebag on his best days.

DJ booth:

The booth is usually only peopled by 1 of 3 people. DJ RazorBurn who has 3 percent body fat and a nose candy problem. He manages to keep his job by dint of the fact that he’ll work insane hours. Most of the staff loathes him because he can’t keep his racism and his objectivist bullshit to himself. Most of his ink comes from prison for assault beefs.  DJ Big Willy, who makes Carl look sveldt  and who has such an accomodating nature that most of the girls treat him like a great big teddy-bear that they occasionally take home. None of these things tend to last very long, but Willy doesn’t complain. The only other person allowed in the booth is DJ Psychopirate and she’s so crazy that even CARL lives in mortal terror of her. He’d like to fire her, but he’s afraid of what she’d do with nothing but time on her hands.  DJPp is the one who has covered nearly every surface that doesn’t have a slider on it with band bumper stickers. She’s also the one that has made the CD filing system into an idiosyncratic and barely navigable mess. Of course, if it weren’t for her, the club would not have 72% of the music it now possesses. Also, Psychopirate used to be a dancer, She’d cut anyone who messed with one and the feeling is pretty much mutual.

The Champagne room:

Glowing red lighting that is creepier than it is sexy. While it promises privacy and perhaps a little more than a lap-dance, its really just a smaller version of the main floor where the couches are separated by thicker walls. The shower stands behind a tiny stage near the entrance and is more often used by girls to wash up than it is for its intended fantasy purpose. It hasn't been cleaned in years if ever, and there's a questionable loofa on the floor that no one touches.  

Backstage: 

Separated into three rooms, the middle one is only about as wide as a hallway. Always filled with smoke and signs asking the ladies to only smoke in designated areas...which they do not. Main room has a vending machine from the time the club was built, with nothing but Rollos in it...ever. 

A shower that is only run when someone is smoking something other than a cigarette and is over flowing with beach and water themed props. A table usually covered in ashes and ladies drinks and a sink and toilet with no door or curtain near it. A long countertop and ceiling high mirror line the back wall of the other two rooms. Counters are filled with makeup dancer clothes etc. Lockers for each girl line the back walls.

A Handy List of Stripper Names:

Serenity
Jade
Sparkle
XTC
Divine
Asia
Jazmine (with a Z)
Sonja
Kiki
Raven

Lexus
Alexus
Alexis
Mercedes
Jayne
Cherry

Autumn
Amber
Chastity
Charity

Angel
Asia
Bailey
Bambi
Bambi
Brittany
Brittney
Bunny
Candy
Chastity
Cherry
Cheryl
Cheyenne
China
Chyna
Claire
Deja
Destiny
Diamond
Emily
Eve
Fantasia
Gia
Ginger
Haylee
Heidi
Jasmine
Jenna
Kat
Kiki
Lacey
Lala
Lexie
Lexus
Lola
Mercedez
Michelle
Mimi
Natasha
Nikki
Raquelle
Savannah
Sierra
Sunny
Trinity

Rio
 Sasha
Shay
Havana
Dylan
Tatum
Zephyr
Zion
Monique
Rhapsody
Roxanna
Tasha
Cashmere
Odessa
Amethyst
Charis
Giovanna
Livia
Demi
Lola
Cerise
Misty
Cherish
Stormy
Lotus
Epiphany
Cayenne
Fawn
Genesis
Tierra
Cecilia
Aurora
Skyla
Phoenix
Onyx
Arabella
Charlotte
Fiona
Gemma
Josie
Kitty
Maya
Violet
Harper
Eliza
Francesca
Delilah
Seraphina
Serena
Luna
Tyra
Ella
Evelyn
Phoebe
Quinn
Sadie
Piper
Emery
Beatrix
Estelle
Ariana
Zaria
Juna
Coco
Lila
Neve
Gabriela
Lilith
Blaze
Cleo
Gigi
Jezebel
Desiree
Jinx
Venus
Christabel
Tatiana
Darcy
Lux
Elektra
Ophelia
Lenora
Annika
Bebe
Stella
Persia
Portia
Mirabelle
Domino
Tabitha
Roxy
Camilla
Selene
Athena

Cameo

Uses for the Caboose in your Chronicle:

• The original premise for which this place was built was for a Vampire that had taken over the place and was using it as his Herd rating and his unofficial office. Lots of vampires are comfortable in the trade of human flesh, or even in the trade in fantasies about human flesh.
• It's a well known fact that there are many young women who work their way through college by taking their clothes off.  The Caboose may have interesting connections to any chronicle set in a University setting. Also, Frat boys mob the place on the weekends. 
• It is a less well known fact that some strippers enjoy recreational chemical entertainments. While this sort of thing is strictly prohibited on the clock, In the employees manual and everything, It's not likely that anyone is going to get blood tested. and USUALLY a blind eye can get turned.  As a result, Strippers can often get the best drugs and the best connections to drugs. This may connect them to various bits of criminal activity going on in your chronicle.
• Let's be clear, If you've never been in a strip club before you may have an unrealistic understanding of what is actually going.  Young women are taking their clothes off and grinding up against your junk (Male OR female) for money.  But Chris Rock is entirely correct. There's NO SEX in the champaign room.  All these women are selling is a fantasy.  This is not to say, that occasionally some dude or chick doesn't get lucky and takes a stripper home. This is also not to say that there aren't occasional agreements of sex for cash, but usually any girl caught doing such a thing is immediately canned. Carl certainly doesn't want the place shut down.
• Occasionally. Dudes gets obsessed.  Local police turn up around 4am and make certain that these young ladies make it safely to their cars.(Carl is always careful to foster good relations with the police and stay on the good side of the law. It's just good business.)  But sometimes...Well, things can happen.  Also, legit boyfriends can turn into raving twat-waffles and become a problem. When this happens, they get one warning from Frank. They almost never listen.  Then, Frank puts them in the hospital.
• What of the Mysterious Owner?  It may be that he or she has gone entirely legit and while they enjoy the money that the club generates, they may not want their name associated with it.  Heck, the current owner may not even be entirely aware that he owns stock in a strip club franchise. These things turn up in omnibus accounts all the time. They are a rock solid investment.