Tourist Attractions

[Clonus]

The Island That Time Forgot:  Thanks to a rogue dimensional portal this Pacific island regularly plays host to random animals from the Cretaceous.  While actually landing on the island is both illegal and dangerous, cruise ships make sure to pot their routes close enough that passengers can get a chance to snap some pics of pterodactyls or the famous brontosaur family.  

 

Oldtown:  In the 1950s some unknown persons stole a short range nuclear missile and used it against the small town of Newtown.  That Newtown survived after a fashion, may give some clue as to why they thought that was necessary.  The untouched town remains inside a bubble of ultra-slow time that effectively deflected the explosion.  It is theorized that whoever created it simply hasn't had time to realize that they have succeeded and restore the flow to flow of time to normal Study of the contents indicates that one second passes inside the bubble for every 76 years outside, and Oldtown may emerge in all of it's anachronistic splendour any decade now. 

 

The Eidolon:  This strange alien battle robot towers over the landscape without moving as it has for the last 22 years.  Nobody knows what it waits for but it doesn't appear to be hostile.  Flash photography is prohibited for fear that it might become irritated.  

 

The Moon-Queen's Castle:  This impressive, if somewhat smashed up architectural masterpiece was discovered in the 70s and remains the go-to destination for space tourists.

 

Friendship City:  This colony of aliens with rather nonhuman tastes in comfortable temperatures is more of a destination for commercial and scientific travellers than regular tourists due to the restrictions on who is allowed to go there.  Still if you can get authorization to travel to Antartica for a reason the Antarctic Commission considers legitimate, I highly recommend the trip.  

 

The Crystal Temple:  Created with a wave of the hand of a self-declared divinity, it surprisingly survived his defeat.  Apparently he had more grasp on architectural principles than most of his ilk and took more pride in his work.  .  

 

Ivanovograd:  Capital city of the Ape Republic which broke away from Russia during the fall of the USSR, 90% of the population consists of the ape-human hybrids who were used as slaves during the days of communism.  Human tourists are well advised to mind their manners.  The natives are superhumanly strong and a bit touchy.  

[Asperion]

AllFathers Playground: This is a region that has been given over to the Nordic way life as it actually was in the seven hundreds. That includes villagers and vikings each doing as they are supposed to do, even their polytheistic belief in Thor, Loki, Balfour, etc all ruled by the powerful might of Odin. Those are not the friendly God's that are depicted in modern stories but as they actually were. Modern technology does not operate here so everyone will need to survive as though they truly are one of the Norsemen from that time.

[Clonus]

Old Atlantis:  The recent excavation of the submerged ruins of what is speculated to be the original pre-diluvian city of Atlantis have created a new attraction.  Descending in a bathysphere one can take a look at what has been uncovered so far even as the archaeological divers continue to dig and explore.  Not recommended.  It's cramped, you can't see very much, and there's a large group of the modern Atlanteans who find surface worlders messing with their ancestors digs to be annoying.  Only go if you're a non-claustrophobe who would enjoy being caught in a dangerous international incident.  

 

Battle Lake:  The site where perhaps the most powerful hero of his day met his tragic end is now a lake made up of the water that has filled the blast crater where he exploded.  Be sure to visit the museum dedicated to him on the edge of the lake because frankly there's not that much else to do or see there.  Battle Lake is however a popular destination for pilgrims who have a nigh-religious belief that their lost hero will one day return from "another dimension".  

 

Goblin Market:  On an annual basis an open-air market appears out of nowhere here, remaining from Friday to Sunday one weekend.  The goods on display are as fascinating as the creatures selling them.  However they have no use for any currency used on Earth, operating strictly on a barter basis.  Shoppers should beware since visitors to the Market have been known to return without their voices or their memories, their capacity to love or to laugh...  However, what they get in return can be quite remarkable.   Do not eat the food.  Don't take anything without knowing what the offerer wants for it. 

[Lord Liaden]

Aztlan: The legendary original home of the Aztecs, this deep mountain valley and extensive cavern complex today lies on the border between Mexico and the United States. Some Aztecs fled back to it during the 16th Century to escape the Spanish conquest, and lived there in secrecy and isolation until the site was was discovered in the late 1960s during aerial mapping. The American and Mexican governments jointly supervise Aztlan, but for the most part the Aztecs have been allowed to continue to live their lives as they always have, with the exception of forbidding human sacrifice. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1972. Historians, sociologists, and archaeologists can receive government permission to visit Aztlan for the priceless opportunity to study a living Meso-American community and its trove of art and literature. However, some Aztecs hate and fear the modern world and resent the white people who displaced them, and hunger to strike back at them. There are rumors of cults still practicing human sacrifice and dark magic such as shape-changing into animal forms.

 

Hellspire: In 1985 the evil wizard and arch-Satanist who called himself Infernus attempted to open the dimensional barriers to Hell with a terrible ritual. He raised a mile-tall obsidian obelisk over downtown Denver, Colorado, as a bridge between earth and sky. At its summit Infernus enacted his ritual, feeding on the souls of thousands of Denverites slaughtered below by his demonic minions. Athough superheroes drove off Infernus before he could finish, the obelisk remained. In the intervening years there's been much debate over what to do with Hellspire. The unearthly stone of which it's made is extremely resistant to being broken up piecemeal, and many are concerned over the damage that could be done if explosives are used to demolish it and the alien architecture causes it to fall the wrong way. While Hellspire does draw many tourists to Denver, most Denverites would prefer the reminder of that terrible day to be gone. And there are persistent reports of frightening apparitions and mysterious deaths and disappearances in its vicinity,

[BoloOfEarth]

Sealand - A trio of superpowered millionaires bought out the former "royalty" of this self-declared independent principality, originally built on a British WWII gun platform in the North Sea, and expanded it tremendously, building a combination hotel/casino and shipping port on the site.  There are rumors that illegal activity is run from there now, though authorities have thus far not been able to prove anything.

[assault]

I like the last one.

 

Plot one: The "trio of superpowered millionaires" are using Sealand as the basis for creating a larger kingdom, based on Doggerland.

 

They can be working on their own behalf, or be proxies for Malachite (4e) or Teleios (5/6e). (If using Malachite, this might be instead or as well as his creation of the Malachite Islands).

 

Plot two: Old Doctor Who serial, The Sea Devils.

 

Plot three: Plot one causes plot two.

[wcw43921]

Harold "Hal" Capaldi, aka "Big Hal" aka Boss Capaldi, aka King Of The Mob--Harold Capaldi controlled all of organized crime in Indiana from 1921 to 1929. Federal, State and local authorities were all but powerless against him; it took the efforts of one of the early 20th century heroes--The Titan--to break up his organization and bring him to justice.  But while he was awaiting trial, Capaldi suffered a fatal heart attack in his jail cell.

 

That was not, however, the end of him.

 

Shortly after his death, a barely substantial figure resembling Capaldi was seen walking the streets of Indianapolis.  Unlike most such apparitions, Capaldi's was capable of speech--and quite a lot of it as well, as he harangued nearby observers about how he used to "run this town" and how someday he would "get it all back."  Ever since then, Capaldi's ghost has been seen in Indianapolis, East Chicago, Gary, South Bend, and has been claimed to have appeared in almost every other Indiana municipality. 

 

Although most of the time he appears as a transparent, insubstantial figure, there have been moments when Capaldi can, and will, interact with the physical world.  These incidents occur when Capaldi is sufficiently angered by perceived acts of disrespect or by deliberate taunts from judgement-impaired thrillseekers acting against official warnings not to antagonize him.  There have even been several incidents where Capaldi has produced either a revolver or a Thompson M1 machine gun, and while most of the time the bullets fired from these ghostly weapons are not substantial enough to inflict damage, there are a few recorded incidents of persons being wounded by these attacks.

 

Capaldi's ghost seems especially resistant to being banished or contained.  Church-sanctioned exorcists have tried to drive him away, only to have him return; sorcerers, witches and others wielding mystic power have tried to dissipate him but he always manages to reconstitute himself; technologically based "supernatural eliminators" have managed to trap him for very brief periods, only to have him eventually, invariably escape.  Scholars of the occult and mystic arts are at a loss to explain the phenomenon, and until they do it appears that the ghost of Harold Capaldi will stalk the streets of Indiana's cities for many decades to come.

[Lord Liaden]

The concept is brilliant and entertaining, wcw; but to work as a "tourist attraction" Capaldi's manifestations should probably be more localized, so tourists have some place to go where they might hope to see him. Perhaps his former home; the street where he grew up; the prison where he was executed (assuming it's been closed since then); or some other site or area closely associated with him.

[BoloOfEarth]

Vince Kramer was not happy to learn that VIPER had built a training and supply Nest right under one of his company's factories, especially since he only learned this when superheroes and government agents galore descended upon the factory en mass and the resulting battle between the forces of law and the Goons in Green destroyed much of his factory.  The authorities weren't convinced that Vince was an innocent dupe, insisting that since it was on (or more specifically, under) his property, he must be a part of it.  Finally, after years of legal battles, Vince proved his innocence.  Unfortunately, the factory was a total loss.  And even though the court found in his favor when he filed a civil suit against the government and the hero team, the amount awarded was nowhere near enough to restore the factory.

 

But Nancy Kramer's little boy hadn't gotten rich by simply accepting bad situations.  He had gotten where he was by turning bad situations to his advantage.  And the VIPER Nest was in relatively good condition, even after the feds and heroes had stripped it of anything even remotely dangerous -- in fact, the Nest was in much better condition than the factory above.  VInce wondered if maybe people would pay to tour an actual VIPER base.  So he spent the proceeds of his civil suit to fix up the base. 

 

Old computer equipment was purchased and used to restore the Control Room to at least a fraction of its former high-tech glory.  Plastic molded "blaster turrets," consisting mainly of laser pointers, web cams, and rotating servos, were fitted into the pop-down mounts in the ceiling.  An old scrapped Herkimer Battle Jitney was bought, towed into the underground garage, and painted bright green and yellow.  Actors and guides were hired and outfitted in faux VIPER uniforms with cheap plastic "blaster rifles". 

 

To Vince's surprise, people ate it up.  Kids and adults alike loved donning cheap knockoffs of VIPER, PRIMUS, and UNTIL uniforms, or chose one of a wide selection of superhero-style spandex costumes, to run through The Gauntlet (basically, the VIPER Training Room converted into laser-tag).  School groups came to hear a retired federal agent talk about fighting VIPER in the 1970s, or meet a reformed VIPER agent (currently on probation after serving 6 years of a 10-year sentence).

 

Some people criticize Vince Kramer, saying he is "glamorizing" VIPER, but he insists that "VIPERWorld" shows a very balanced, and ultimately negative, view of the criminal organization.  Others worry that the real VIPER will take umbrage at the site, but thus far they've made no move... at least, not yet...

[death tribble]

In the museum (your choice) is a metal statue of a woman. The sad truth is this is the heroine Galaxy Girl an alien robot in the shape of a human woman (but airbrushed as if sculpted). She appeared in the 60s and her career continued into the 70s. However the changes wrought by Reaganomics broke her heart and sentience departed from what became a statue. Nowadays she is a forgotten piece of history but one the museum is keen to protect as she may return to life.  

[Clonus]

The Forgotten Speakeasy:  An extradimensional drinking establishment which can be entered if if you speak the right password in front of the door that used to lead to any mundane speakeasy in the 20s.  It contains a fair number of people dressed in the garb of the time who apparently never leave and never age.  Whether they are ghosts, temporally arrested humans from the 1920s, or supernatural entities merely mimicking humans from the 20s is a mystery best left uninvestigated.  

 

Eclipse:  A desert city under a peculiar effect that causes it to seem as if the sun is always entirely obscured by a total eclipse to anyone looking upward from inside the city.  The primary local industries are gambling and the sex industry making it a magnet for the kind of tourists who do not bring their families, if they even have them.  Eclipse is thoroughly dominated by a criminal syndicate run by a cabal of light-averse superhumans and it is said that those who who don't know their limits at gaming tables may find themselves wagering blood.  Still an excellent destination for a someone looking for dodgier entertainments.  Just don't get carried away and don't go there intending to cause trouble.

[Clonus]

The Museum of Wonders:  This private museum contains a large number of exotic exhibits whose nature and provenance are uncertain.  Is the fish tailed skeleton really the remains of a mermaid or a cunning forgery?  Is the statue that occasionally weeps just accumulating condensation?  Is the Victorian death mask really haunted?  Is that really the remains of a 16th century clockwork assassin?  One of the more remarkable exhibits is the transparent dome containing an intricately sculpted castle out of of some fairy tale and surrounding farm land although the scale is such that if it is inhabited, no person with normal eyesight would be able to make out the inhabitants.  Also of note is a mirror that is kept covered.   In order to look into it one must pull the velvet rope beside it, which, when released will cause the curtain to fall again.  Almost invariably what one sees of oneself when one looks into the mirror is so shocking that letting go of the rope is not a conscious decision. 

[pinecone]

Harold "Hal" Capaldi, aka "Big Hal" aka Boss Capaldi, aka King Of The Mob--Harold Capaldi controlled all of organized crime in Indiana from 1921 to 1929. Federal, State and local authorities were all but powerless against him; it took the efforts of one of the early 20th century heroes--The Titan--to break up his organization and bring him to justice. But while he was awaiting trial, Capaldi suffered a fatal heart attack in his jail cell.

 

That was not, however, the end of him.

 

Shortly after his death, a barely substantial figure resembling Capaldi was seen walking the streets of Indianapolis. Unlike most such apparitions, Capaldi's was capable of speech--and quite a lot of it as well, as he harangued nearby observers about how he used to "run this town" and how someday he would "get it all back." Ever since then, Capaldi's ghost has been seen in Indianapolis, East Chicago, Gary, South Bend, and has been claimed to have appeared in almost every other Indiana municipality.

 

Although most of the time he appears as a transparent, insubstantial figure, there have been moments when Capaldi can, and will, interact with the physical world. These incidents occur when Capaldi is sufficiently angered by perceived acts of disrespect or by deliberate taunts from judgement-impaired thrillseekers acting against official warnings not to antagonize him. There have even been several incidents where Capaldi has produced either a revolver or a Thompson M1 machine gun, and while most of the time the bullets fired from these ghostly weapons are not substantial enough to inflict damage, there are a few recorded incidents of persons being wounded by these attacks.

 

Capaldi's ghost seems especially resistant to being banished or contained. Church-sanctioned exorcists have tried to drive him away, only to have him return; sorcerers, witches and others wielding mystic power have tried to dissipate him but he always manages to reconstitute himself; technologically based "supernatural eliminators" have managed to trap him for very brief periods, only to have him eventually, invariably escape. Scholars of the occult and mystic arts are at a loss to explain the phenomenon, and until they do it appears that the ghost of Harold Capaldi will stalk the streets of Indiana's cities for many decades to come.

I could see " Capaldi's ghost!" Becoming popular...

Both as a tour, and as an exclamation. But yeah there needs to be so.e sort of way to guess where he might appear, even if he haunts the whole state at times...

[SKJAM!]

(Name Varies), a small village in Wales, somehow became slightly detached from our spacetime continuum sometime during the Twentieth Century.  The best guess is somewhere in the 1940s.  Every few weeks, it is replaced by a slightly different version of itself from a random alternate timeline where history went differently.  At first, the divergences were hardly noticable, so that people who found themselves in an alternate version of their home town just thought their memory was going, or that they'd had too much to drink.

 

But starting in the 1960s, it became obvious that people in the village remembered things very differently from those outside the village, and that these memories changed every few weeks.  Scientific research discovered the effect, but not the cause.  Since then, a tourist industry has turned the area around the village into a bustling area.  Since the exact timing of the changeover is not yet predictable, tourists are only allowed into the village proper during "safe windows".

[Clonus]

I could see " Capaldi's ghost!" Becoming popular...

Both as a tour, and as an exclamation. But yeah there needs to be so.e sort of way to guess where he might appear, even if he haunts the whole state at times...

 

If we can count him frequently showing up in certain places at certain times, then that would be good enough.  

[pinecone]

If we can count him frequently showing up in certain places at certain times, then that would be good enough.

 

Word, if on certain dates he's likely to appear, that's enough to build a tourist industry.

[Clonus]

Olympic Island:  After the return of the Olympians, Zeus took one look at the Olympics and found them wanting.  That they had rules which excluded many of the worlds greatest athletes on specious grounds such as "being a professional" or "possession of superpowers" seemed irrational.  The dubious financial arrangements associated with them were downright insulting to his sensibilities.  Instead of expressing his displeasure with lightning, he enlisted the help of Poseidon and Hephaestus to raise a new island in the Atlantic specifically crafted to provide a playing field suitable for an Olympic competition that would be "done right"..."right" being Zeus's way.  Since Zeus's law is the only law on the island even superhumans who are notorious hunted criminals in the world at large have been known to travel to Olympic Island to compete, immune to capture and prosecution for the duration of the event as long as they do not break the Olympic truce.  Travelling to Olympic Island to personally observe the competition costs a great deal for those who are not heads of state, but for those wealthy enough to buy the ticket, the price is totally worth it.  

[SKJAM!]

And because it caters to Zeus' tastes, all the competitions are in the nude.

[Clonus]

And because it caters to Zeus' tastes, all the competitions are in the nude.

 

Back in the day nobody had invented skin-tight stretchy fabrics that could display every curve and muscle.  Zeus is pleased with this development.  

[death tribble]

The Oval Edifice.

 

This pun on the Oval Office is a flying wing like object which you can use to see virtually anywhere provided that is where the pilot wishes to go. The pilot changes every trip so do their destinations and their whims. Some will take you to see volcanoes like Etna and Vesuvious, others to cities like New York or Tokyo, others again to the Sahara or the Arctic. It appears at random places picks up passengers and departs. People are returned safely and no-one has ever fallen off. This is despite several people wanting to end their lives by throwing themselves off the floating oval. They are stopped by other passengers or outsiders although why this is, is not clear. Those who have been saved in this way have become better people although again it is not clear why and how this has happened.

It can be as big as a jumbo jet or even larger or as small as a surfboard but it always has one pilot and at least one passenger. And the cost varies as well. From a penny, to a flower, to a precious possession, to even your immortal soul. The Oval Edifice is a journey like no other and one you won't forget in a hurry.

[Clonus]

In Japan there are four schools specifically set aside for children with "special abilities" each named after one of the four members of Japan's first post-war super team:

 

Suzaku Academy and Biyakko Academy are respective a boys school and a girl's school.  Genbu and Seiryu  are co-educational establishments but Seiryu is reserved for the super-powered children of parents with great social status...and therefore does not qualify as a tourist attraction.  The other three however become attractions at twice per year during their Cultural and Athletic Festivals.  Admission for non-family members isn't cheap and should be booked at least a year in advance since the number of open tickets is limited but the student power displays make them an interesting spectacle.