Building Hamilton Bay

[Savinien]

Hey all. I'm really digging Hermit's New Constantinople thread and have already stolen the majority of his ideas. I've flipped the pic and tossed in on the East Coast, though. Still, almost everything the guys in that thread have added will work! Happy day!

 

Now, what concerns me (and the topic of this thread), is capturing the feel I'm looking for in Hamilton Bay. Hamilton Bay is the Astro City of my campaign. This is where the majority of Parahumans are hanging out. A much larger percentage of the population has super-powers, both of good demeanor and bad.

 

How do you keep the mood of Astro City in an RPG setting? Any ideas?

[Hermit]

Re: Building Hamilton Bay

 

You know Astro City better than I do. Heck, you're one of the guys who reccomended it to me, for which I'm grateful I think part of it has to be how much super humans have become part of the setting to the point of becoming local color. Religious superheroes handing out pamphlets, buildings related to superhumans (and not just bases) dotting the skyline, the locals chatting about them like they might favorite sports teams, resturants and clubs forming up trying to attract super powered clientle.

 

Definitely pay more attention to the locals themselves, while in gameplay you can't have things told from the perspective of waiters and 8 to 5ers, you can certainly have them in there. Add lots of detail. I'd use Normals Unbound from 4th ed as a good example (and I hope Everyman comes up to the same or better quality. Make notes on how each feels about superhumans, because superhumans just can't be avoided.

 

Find out what the PCs want to play , and then fill in the niches for other heroes that they aren't or can't be.

 

But those are just off the top of my head.

[Savinien]

Re: Building Hamilton Bay

 

Thanks, Hermit. Making sure to get the differing opinions on the Normals is key. How do you go about it, though? Cut scenes of a character in his Secret ID talking over the water cooler? Pre-session reading material?

[Savinien]

Re: Building Hamilton Bay

 

Here is more food for thought. The first campaign/story arc I'm going to run in Hamilton Bay has a single protagonist, Steven Badowski, Private Investigator. He also has the distinction of being a powered parahuman. He grows getting larger and having a thicker hide as he grows. Never getting larger than 15'.

[Hermit]

Re: Building Hamilton Bay

 

Well, most DNPCs are normal, and I find letting the ones who are 'unaware' of the PC's identity speak their mind around water coolers etc. Of course, how much time you'd have for that depends on how many players are in your crew etc. Blue booking or hand outs might be a good way to handle that if you worry about cheating other players of time.

 

Of course, PCs who let their characters interact with the public should get a chance to see how folks react to them first hand. In the JLU episode Flash and Substance the animated universe's version of Linda Park practically trips over her tongue with hero worship for our scarlet speedster. In Patriot Act we get to see the locals at the parade muttering about how they 'came to see Superman' when the third tier heroes show up.

 

In one campaign I ran, a player got a kick seeing some graffiti on a campaign city wall that praised her character. Turns out some of the locals in the poor part of town adopted her as THEIR Hero because she stayed mostly in their area instead of the glitzy high profile neighborhoods.