Need help with Pittsburgh 5E

[Mark Rand]

Hi all,

Since Gotham City proved unworkable for the campaign I wanted, I decided to set a campaign in my home town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There will be changes made to the city, but they're minor.

PRIMUS has an office there. It's on the South Side, near Station Square. The FBI office is, at least, 20-blocks away.

The team's base is in the residence of the universe's Archmage, which is on Fifth Avenue, in the area known as Millionare's Row.

Since it's a mage's house its bigger on the inside than the outside and can have gates to various places and realities.

More to come.

Yours

Mark Rand

[Hermit]

Might I suggest that CU Pittsburgh have a thriving new metalurgical industry in the area of super metals? I can't picture the city of the Steelers not trying to compete with Millennium City and others for that area of tech

[Mark Rand]

Good idea, Hermit. It might be in the Pittsburgh area instead of within the city itself. It all depends on how much land is needed. Oh, before I forget, we aren't in the actual CU. James Collingsworth is the President and there is no known life in space.

[Redmenace]

Originally posted by Hermit

Might I suggest that CU Pittsburgh have a thriving new metalurgical industry in the area of super metals? I can't picture the city of the Steelers not trying to compete with Millennium City and others for that area of tech

 

It's been a while but the old rusting steel mills which used to bracket Kennywood amusement park would be a likely site for some techno renewal tied in with Carnegie U.

 

If I remember it was a very nice city you might want to leave some of the rust belt in place for your power envious crime fighter types.

[Guest Keneton]

Pittsburgh

 

Since the mighty Keneton lives in Pittsburgh (more specifically Dormont)., I ran for years a campaign witha Pittsburgh Superteam called the Nightfist. There base was below Steel Plaza with a secret excit along the T-Path. n They once stopped the assassination attempt of Sophie Maslof. My favorite villain was The Mauler, an ex USFL football player pumped up by Viper. I have several adventures if youd like to share.

 

BTW: Steelers over Titans by 10+. Its a lock!!

[Hermit]

Re: Pittsburgh

 

Originally posted by Keneton

BTW: Steelers over Titans by 10+. Its a lock!!

 

Blah!

[Mark Rand]

Redmenace, I take it you're thinking of the U.S. Steel mills southeast of Pittsburgh. I'm sure both Carnegie-Mellon University (formerly Carnegie nstitute of Technology and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research) and the University of Pittsburgh would get involved in such a project.

Kenton, I'd like to share. You can post them here or email them to me at jakelene@yahoo.com.

[danbuter]

A number of the old steel mills are currently being renovated. Some have already been turned into offices. There are some seriously big asbestos abatements going on down there. But they would make good places for bad guys to hide. Heck, maybe the mafia is using the abatement work as a front to hide the fact that they have counterfiting presses or heroin processing running in the buildings.

[Mark Rand]

Good idea, danbuter. Thank you.

Should the team be four-color or dark Champions?

[danbuter]

Well, my write-up would be for a Batman-style game. You could always make the factories part of a VIPER base or something, if you want four-color.

[Mark Rand]

I like it. Batman, Moon Knight, Green Arrow, or The Shadow instead of Superman or Iron Man. The headquarters wouldn't be the Archmage's house, but a cave (like the Urban Base in the Champions book) under a mansion in a wealthy suburb of Pittsburgh. Maybe the Archmage's student is a member of the team.

Do you think the Public Auditorium Authority (or whatever they're calling it now) would object if someone or some company decided to build and own either a new hockey arena for the Penguins or a hotel-convention center complex?

[Mark Rand]

Hi all,

I had an idea while eating lunch today. The Champions set up a branch office in Pittsburgh. So far, there are two heroes, Lady Arcane, a revamped Witchcraft, and Guardian, a retooled Defender. Since character concept comes before point total, the heroes can be the way the players want them.

Their base is the residence of Dr. Arcane, Lady Arcane's mentor, and the current Archmage. Since its a mage's house, it's bigger on the inside than the outside and has areas in other realities.

The staff, so far, consists of a housekeeper, secretary, nurse and electronics engineer. PRIMUS, DOSPA and the NSA all have liaisons there.

Why did the Champions have a branch office in Pittsburgh? Simple. A Hellmouth is near the city, as is Stargate Command.

Fortunately, a Slayer and her associates guard the Hellmouth (this takes place after the last episode of "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer") and the military controls the Stargate. However, the Champions aren't taking any chances.

Oh, hoping to get control of it, the NID (the National Intelligence Department) revealed the existance of the Stargate project. All they got was arrested for high treason.

Yours,

Mark Rand

[Mark Rand]

Hi all,

As I sit at my keyboard and reflect on Pittsburgh in the game, a Dark Champions game with four-color overtones seems best.

Lady Arcane is one member. A second is Black Scorpion, a female ninja. Her garb is a modified version of the traditional ninja garb. She added gloves with retractable claws and replaced the regular with a ski mask that had cloth mesh placed over the nose and mouth openings. (Some ski masks do have nose openings.) Her Scorpionmobile looks like a black 2001 Poiniac Ram-Air TransAm, but has accessories that would make James Bond and Michael Knight drool.

As far as a base goes, they're using Lady Arcane's house. Don't forget, its a mage's house and they are full of surprises.

Yours,

Mark Rand

[Mark Rand]

Hi all,

Time to tell you what changes I have in mind for Pittsburgh. The super-metal factory, suggested by Hermit, is in the RIDC industrial Park Northeast of the city. The Penguins were bought by the owners of the factory, instead of Mario and his group. When they took over, the new CEO announced plans to fund, build and a new arena for the Pens, a new hotel-convention center for the city and, in Washington County, a motorsports complex. Opposition from The Sports and Exibition Authority Board, who were afraid of losing political power, forced him to build the hotel-convention center and ice arena in Washington County. Now, tax dollars are going there. Oops.

Staying in Washington County, John Gray Wolf is now security chief at The Meadows, the area's harness race track. His wife, Robin, a blue-eyed blonde cowgirl, is the new parade marshall. Her horses are Leopard Apalossas, white with dark spots all over.

The motorsports facility has a dragstrip that serves as the front straight for a 1/2 mile oval and a 2.8 mile road course. Part of the oval's backstretch and turn two are also part of the road course. The facility also has a figure 8 track and a go-cart track.

Within the city, new entertainment spots are opening up. The Falcon's Rest, a Middle Eastern nightclub that features belly dancers is on Ninth Street near Fort Duquesne Blvd. The Sucubus Club (a goth nightclub) and the Cabaret of Magic are in the Strip District. Danny's, a jazz club, and Zorba's, a Greek bar featuring belly dancers are in Oakland. The old Buhl Planetarium was bought by the owners of the Penguins, brought up to code, and donated to the Community College of Alleghny County. Since it's open to the public when the college isn't using it, the people running the Carnegie Science Center aren't happy.

Also, a new thoroughbred track is under construction in Butler County.

Yours,

Mark Rand

[Mark Rand]

Hi all,

How many of you read Frank Miller's Sin City books? I do and I'm thinking of adding a neighborhood like Old Town to Pittsburgh. Instead of the treaty, I'd like to take a page out of Mike Surbrook's Kazei 5 PBEM RPG and use a zero zone (or zero law enforcement zone).

People with large checking accounts (possibly including VIPER or the mob) forced Congress to approve legislation that would permit cities to create these zones.

They then pressured Pittsburgh City Council to create one, hoping to run it. Some local prostitutes had other ideas. Calling a town meating, that not everyone attended, they passed tough new laws for their nine square block area and made sure the area media outlets and governments know about it. One good point is that everyone is armed and not afraid to use their weapons on lawbreakers.

More to come.

Yours,

Mark Rand

[Mark Rand]

I've been thinking about Pittsburgh's superhero team. My current idea is for The Avengers to exist in my campaign universe and them to set up a branch office in Pittsburgh.

One character I plan to use is a mage with a familiar, either an owl or a cat. The team could use the mage's house as a base.

What other heroes could be there?

Besides a maid or butler, what occupations should the staffers have?

[Redmenace]

Resident ghost, beneficent or otherwise, might be interesting if the spook was a hero or slayer and could advise your pcs from time to time.

 

A cook

A groundskeeper

A major domo to organize the help

Chauffeur

A public relations spokesperson and staff.

A government liaison

You only rarely see this in the Avengers but Medical technicians, mechanical technicians, mechanics for their vehicles, mundane security.

 

 

This wouldn't necessarily be in the house it's self but there might be members of the community who would drop by semi regularly. These might make interesting Dnpcs.

 

Local goth kids who are attracted to the place's mystique. They could be useful or a nuisance.

 

Local small press newspaper journalist who was given the job nobody wanted, to write a halloween piece about the local haunted house before it was an Avenger's pad. This could be instead a TV station assignment instead or maybe a radio station.

 

Resident horror author like Stephen King, who hosts an annual halloween party there to raise money for a charity.

 

Antiquarians and historians who wish to preserve this stately piece of Pittsburgh's history and don't want to see it redone for modern conveniance at the expense of it's historical accuracy..

[Mark Rand]

The mansion belonged to the Harrisons, a wealthy Pittsburgh family, for five generations before Laura, the family's daughter, was kidnapped by an evil cult after her parents and the family housekeeper were murdered before her eyes.

Dr. Arcane, a local high-powered mage, found out about the sacrafice (sp) and moved to stop it. As he did, a spirit entered Laura, empowered her, and helped her fight her captors. Once that was done, the spirit left Laura and became visible. "Laura, you have the ability to use magic. If you didn't, I couldn't have helped you. You can either do nothing and let evil win, or join the fight against it. What do you say?"

"I will join the fight," Laura replied. "Dr. Arcane, will you accept me as a student?"

"Yes."

After years of studying, Laura, now known as Lady Arcane, wove spells around her mansion. (I'm using the mansion from The House that Jack Built as the basis for the mansion.) The first made the building stronger than it once was and prevented otherworldly beings outside from coming in or those inside from leaving. This spell had the side effect of attracting Rose, a kind-hearted ghost.

The second spell created gateways to other places. One place, based on Batman's current Batcave, serves as the team's lab, shop, computer, communications, exersize, medical and meeting facility.

[Mark Rand]

The mansion from The House that Jack Built, from an old issue of Adventurers Club, is one of the two mansions that come to mind when I think about this. The other is the Paulson Mansion on, I think, on the grounds of the University of Kentucky.I found its plans and photos of the exterior on the net.

Since the house has gates to pocket realities, most changes will be the kinds of upgrades (HVAC, electrical, smoke detectors, and telecommunications) that wouldn't hurt the housse.

[Ben Seeman]

Make sure Mario has a good hip and that the Pens actually have fans come to their games. Have a battle destroy Mellon Arena so they HAVE to get a new place to play.

[Mark Rand]

Yeah, Ben. Those would be good.

As I understand it, from what they were saying on KDKA, Mario's going to be out the rest of the season.

The local governments, as far as I know, has no intention of putting up a new arena and, given their financial problems, won't, even if the Mellon Arena was trashed.

The end result would have Mario selling the Pens, the team leaving and Pittsburgh slipping furthur into red ink.

[Mark Rand]

On a couple of other threads, especially the Gotham City, Bat Team, Las Vegas, and Sunnydale ones, we've been kicking around the idea of adding the post season-seven Buffyverse to the CU and its counterparts. With at least 200 active Slayers in the world, it wouldn't be hard to add it to the campaign, especially if vampires, who already exist in the CU, exist in Pittsburgh.

How many Slayers would be assigned to Pittsburgh?

Besides Lady Arcane, how many on the team know about them?

What is her/their status with the team?

[Mark Rand]

I just realized that The Avengers are sanctioned by the United Nations, not the united States.

How does this sound? Pittsburgh's team is the Guardians. Their sponsor, who has no control over the team, bought an old, rundown mansion on Pittsburgh's Millionaires' Row, which is Fifth Avenue from Devonshire Street to Shady Avenue. He worked with the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation on rebuilding the mansion. The outside looks like it did when it was built. Except for upgrades required by code and other utility upgrades, the basement, first and second floors and the attic look like they did in the old days, too. Then, Lady Arcane cast her spells.

The first increased the building's structural strength and kept supernatural visitors outside from entering and those inside from leaving. A side effect was to summon Rose, the mansion's kind-hearted resident ghost, a woman wearing a short-sleeve, sequened (sp) evening gown and opera-length white gloves. The second spell created a portal to a pocket reality where there are other buildings.

As far as staff goes, the butler acts as major domo, chauffeur, when needed and helps with the vehicle maintance. His wife, the maid doubles as the cook. Other live-in staff includes the nurse, a computer expert and an electronics engineer, who also does most of the vehicle maintance. The various liaisons live in, too.

The security, communications and administrative staff live elsewhere and companies handle the groundskeeping and publicity work. Snow removal is done by whoever is available, usually the butler or electronics engineer.