Diana

(If you're in Montréal and you were at Patrick's house playing Descent last Saturday, please stay away. [img]images/smilies/wink.gif[/img])

I'm thinking of running a Changeling: The Lost game set in Las Vegas. The problem is that I don't know much about the place! I know that the locals don't often go to the strip, that it's a hot desert, and that it's easy to lose all your money there, but that's about it. [img]images/smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Here are some ideas I had:[*]The desert is hungry. People who wander out into the desert, in any direction, while meeting certain criteria, find themselves in the Hedge. The Lost have no idea of all the criteria, and there's a subset of Lost who spend much of their time testing this strange open border.[*]The Courts. The seasonal Courts all operate in the area, and they rotate power as expected. Still, the Kings and Queens don't have tons and tons of power; they have just enough to complete the contract that allows Seasonal Courts to evade the Others.[*]The Sheriff: There's an enigmatic Lost (at least, most people assume he's Lost) who patrols the area on horseback. Most Lost appreciate his presence, as he's a tireless bringer of Justice, and when you see him, you know something's about to go down. Others think, "Who is this douchebag to judge us?" He's a Scarecrow-type character, with a wide-brimmed hat, a scythe, and two dusty, long-barreled pistols.[*]The Mood: The mood of the area is Old West, rather than Medieval Europe. The Courts feel more like fly-by-night attempts at government, and most Lost have the freedom to do whatever they like as long as it doesn't expose the Lost to the Others. Justice is typically meted out by the Sheriff, so the Lost have never really had to put together a secret police.[*]The Unseelie: Of course, there's a secret threat rising in the area: The Unseelie Court. I don't know if The Lost deals with them officially or not, but my version is an underground movement that just wants to bring chaos and anarchy to the world. They see their time in Faerie as "paying dues" for the right to treat the world like their own personal playground. They operate in secret and infiltrate all layers of Lost society... almost like a "Cylon" threat, right under the Courts' noses. They include Privateers in their numbers, which is the main reason the Courts are paranoid about them. Also, the Sheriff seems to let them go... or maybe they've managed to fool even him![/list]I've also got vampires running the Strip, where the Lost will tend to want to feed on the extreme emotions created by the place. The vampires don't know and don't care about the Lost's need to stay under the radar. There are Oaths in place, but if a weird looking glowing, faceless lady comes in and says, "Bring me the Wooden Boy, and I will make sure none of them bother your casino ever again," the vampires are likely to go looking for a boy made of wood. [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]

What I need are details. Little things about Vegas that would make it a great place for stories. I'm not going for a super-dark theme here, but anything that matches the Old West mood and the theme of paranoia would be ace.

Also, any secrets or local know-how I can get about the area (local hangouts, places locals avoid, details about traffic, wages, good/bad neighborhoods, etc) would be awesome. I'm not about to watch CSI just to get that information. [img]images/smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Thanks!