Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

[assault]

I'm working on a Golden Age campaign, and I'm struggling a little with where it is going to be set.

 

The general setting is: early 1939, the timeline is the same as in the Real World, the PCs are the first (known) supers.

 

I need a city.

 

It should be in the US, although I haven't been to the US for almost 30 years, and that was only briefly...

 

It probably shouldn't be a real city, basically because I am likely to know less about it than my players...

 

I don't really want to use Hudson City, Vibora Bay or cities from other publishers, partly because I would have to distribute modified versions of their maps and stuff, but mainly because I don't really want to have to incorporate their back stories into my world.

 

So, I guess, I need to create my own city.

 

The help I am looking for are ideas on:

(a) Grabbing appropriate maps. I don't really need specific neighbourhood maps at this point, just general overview maps: "rich people live here", "this is an industrial area", "here are the wharves", "this is the financial district" etc. Any ideas are welcome.

 

( While I am capable of coming up with a list of important locations by myself, suggestions are always worthwhile. In addition, I would be interested to hear any ideas about how to handle travel times between them. Obviously the time spent travelling between the MooseCave and Police Headquarters can be important, though I guess it would vary depending on whether or not MooseMan flies or takes the MooseMobile.

 

© Any other interesting or mad ideas. I will, of course, be ripping off a lot of sources already. Just because I don't want to use Hudson City (for example) directly doesn't mean that I won't be lifting stuff from it wholesale. Even Millenium City will get a look in, despite the obvious problems with the whole futuristic thing it has going. I suppose some of that could be retro-futurised though, if "retro-futurised" is a word. (It is now, anyway). But while the 1939 version of the "City of the Future" is a good laugh, it can only be part of the setting - I want more standard Pulpish Cops and Robbers stuff too.

 

Basically, I'm sitting around procrastinating, when I should be writting. I need to be inspired.

 

Inspire me! Or at least talk to me while I make up my own stuff.

 

Please.

[OddHat]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

I've used Wikipedia and other online sources in this situation.

 

Pick a fairly old American port city other than New York (too hard to disguise). I'd suggest Philadelphia (river port) or Boston.

 

Wiki for the City's history and a map.

 

Google for pictures of the city in the 1930s and older maps.

 

Edit to taste, including name changes.

 

You get the authenticity of a real city, handout materials you can give your players, and plot seeds based on real events. By changing the names you get a bit of freedom and fewer cries of "But in the real world, that's impossible" from people playing characters who can fly.

[Kirby]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

Here is a link to New Constantinople, a city that Hermit created with help of those online. This might help you see the process he went through in creating his city.

 

With your campaign starting in 1939, that means WW2 is just around the corner and that the US will be entering it in just over two years. Do you have plans on having the PCs becoming a part of the war effort? Or will they be protecting the homefront? I ask this because your city may depend on who the PCs go after. If they'll go after Germany, then you'd probably want your city in an East Coast state, while if they'll be going after Japan, you might want them in a West Coast state (or even, by golly, put them in Hawaii! [the island of Oahu is where Pearl Harbor is]).

 

For your specific, lettered requests:

 

a) Maps - Hermit's thread has a map with a blank slate on it. You can rotate it to fit your desire (note that turning it upside down is actually the proper presentation of the real city).

 

Travel - if its noncombat, travel time shouldn't be adhered to too much. I was in a Dark Champions campaign once where travel time from everyone's house to the base was always 30 minutes by vehicle, except for one PC (and that was a running joke).

 

c) Not too much advice yet (just when I see what you've further developed) other than don't put any business chains in your city. You don't want a McDonald's in each neighborhood. Instead, make each store, restaurant, theater a place of its own.

 

Good luck on this! I look forward to seeing how it evolves.

[assault]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

For your amusement, here's a very brief description of how I envisage the game:

 

The feel of game will be "authentic" Golden Age (mainly DC). Familiarity with the source material and the historical period desirable. Familiarity with modern retcons optional, or even undesirable.

 

set in early 1939 (ie prewar).

 

350 points.

 

It isn't necessary for PCs to be Combat Monsters, since most opponents will be gangsters, theme villains, spies, mad scientists and the occasional monster.

 

Character would be roughly on a par with 1938 Superman, 1939 Batman, or 1940 Green Lantern.

 

Setting would probably be a fictional city in the US.

 

The character should be capable of effectively engaging normals in hand to hand combat, regardless of their other abilities.

 

No NCM.

 

Heroic Code mandatory.

Code versus Killing optional.

 

Perks, esp Contacts, desirable.

 

Not all historical sidekicks were kids. Adult partners and animal companions were common.

[OddHat]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

"Allow me to introduce my sidekick, a talking rooster named Richard Willie Johnson." - Captain Tightpants

[Superskrull]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

I'd recommend using Wikipedia for more than just city knowledge. Type in a year and see a reasonably accurate listing of useful events. That's useful for finding out what movies were out in what year without hitting IMDB all the time. Adds some nice background color. Also, don't forget to do some music-based research and come up with a nice vaguely named newspaper and a few popular radio newscasters. Consider adding a few fake radio shows to the standards broadcasts too. By '40, it'd be cool to have at least one radio program touting the "true-life adventures" of some PC or moderately noteworthy NPC. Use the NPC if you want the actual NPC drug into events he can't cope with and require bailing out by PCs. You know, all the standard fare.

[assault]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

I'll definitely use radio. In fact, I'll probably even have a TV station! http://www.earlytelevision.org/prewar.html#Prewar_History

 

The New York World's Fair will happen during the game, too.

 

http://www.earlytelevision.org/worlds_fair.html and just Google it for more neat stuff.

 

Here's one neat thing, for starters, from the Wikipedia entry:

---

On July 4, 1940 the fair hosted "Superman Day." Notable was the crowning of the "superboy and supergirl" of the day, and a public appearance by Superman, played by actor Ray Middleton; the first time any had played the role.

---

 

Insert a PC in place of Superman...

[Superskrull]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

So, you going to use the Phantom of the Fair? Y'know the one the Crimson Avenger fought? He had flight & superstrength.

[assault]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

So' date=' you going to use the Phantom of the Fair? Y'know the one the Crimson Avenger fought? He had flight & superstrength.[/quote']

 

I wasn't planning on it, but I am aware of the character.

 

Here is a page dedicated to the character he was based on: http://www.anerispress.com/ena/ff0001.html

[assault]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

Thanks to a suggestion from telemachus, I am considering using a city "somewhere near Kansas City".

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1263630&postcount=26

 

I was further inspired by this strip from Irregular Webcomic.

 

If I go with this, the resulting bustling metropolis will be called "Campaigne City", named after the French explorer who was the first European to map the area...

[Balabanto]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

Don't forget that in this era, most ordinary police patrolmen have a truncheon and that's it. Only illegal criminals and detectives have guns.

[assault]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

Don't forget that in this era' date=' most ordinary police patrolmen have a truncheon and that's it. Only illegal criminals and detectives have guns.[/quote']

 

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I haven't got time to check just now.

 

Anyway, the URL="http://www.kshs.org/projects/lem/directory/lemnames01.htm#a"]Kansas Law Enforcement Officers Memorial[/url] describes a number of shooting incidents during the period that at first glance appear to involve "ordinary cops".

 

I'll look deeper at the question later.

[assault]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

I've started a thread on the Pulp Hero board about Circuses.

 

Anything that involves Clowns, Gorillas and Mentalists can't be irrelevant to Champions, can it?

[OddHat]

Re: Golden Age Campaign City - HELP!

 

I've started a thread on the Pulp Hero board about Circuses.

 

Anything that involves Clowns, Gorillas and Mentalists can't be irrelevant to Champions, can it?

 

Circuses are the original source of many iconic Superhero images, including the classic Superhero costume. Photographs of circus performers often make for surprisingly good character art, and many Golden Age Supers had powers that were more or less "real" versions of circus stunts.

 

So, yes, there is relevance.