City Builder - It takes a village to create Arcadia

[Cygnia]

Re: City Builder - It takes a village to create Arcadia

 

That's very DC Comics. I like it. Puts me in mind of the most recent Green Arrow and Black Canary series.

 

So, right off the top of my head, a pair of "Bonny and Clyde" style lovers, Justice Irrenanstalt and Mercy Cross, decide to become vigilates: Mercy and Justice. I am thinking black and white costumes (White for Justice and Black for Mercy). They will be insane, maybe more like "Natural Born Killers," and be gadget based. Guns and traps.

 

Thoughts?

 

Another part of the motivation could be resentment that Sophia got all these perks and advantages just because of her situation and not due to her actual talents. Let's be honest, a super-genius 20 year old doctor isn't entirely unheard of even in the real world -- but it IS damn rare. You build that resentment up. "It'd be one thing if her father was a REAL hero like a cop! But her daddy was criminal scum who just picked one day to save HER ass out of everyone else's! Why does SHE get all this help when there are still people in the city in desperate need here?! Bet the apple doesn't fall far from the tree -- why should we wait until she snaps?!"

 

And it could become a morally grey area. How bad were Lasombre's crimes even if he was D-list? Did people get hurt, have their businesses fail or lose their jobs due to him? Did Sophia indeed get a "leg up" due to her father's sacrifice and what are her feelings about that?

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Builder - It takes a village to create Arcadia

 

Another part of the motivation could be resentment that Sophia got all these perks and advantages just because of her situation and not due to her actual talents. Let's be honest, a super-genius 20 year old doctor isn't entirely unheard of even in the real world -- but it IS damn rare. You build that resentment up. "It'd be one thing if her father was a REAL hero like a cop! But her daddy was criminal scum who just picked one day to save HER ass out of everyone else's! Why does SHE get all this help when there are still people in the city in desperate need here?! Bet the apple doesn't fall far from the tree -- why should we wait until she snaps?!"

 

And it could become a morally grey area. How bad were Lasombre's crimes even if he was D-list? Did people get hurt, have their businesses fail or lose their jobs due to him? Did Sophia indeed get a "leg up" due to her father's sacrifice and what are her feelings about that?

 

That's a logical progression and good questions that need to be answered. I think Lasombre was a thief, stealing to finance his experiments. I picture him as a joke that never really hurt anyone and never really got away with anything.

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Builder - It takes a village to create Arcadia

 

When I last left this thread (nearly two years ago) I was in the process of a campaign design for my Sigma Campaign. Life got in the way, I got promoted at work, dated a lot of younger women, building a Game Cave, got caught up in a Pathfinder Game, followed by running a Star Wars game. A few weeks ago I found my notes on Arcadia and my brain started bubbling and I told my girlfriend about the HERO boards and how I missed all of you guys and the brilliant input I would get. Because she is an amazing girlfriend she suggested I get back on here and get back to what I love -- World Building. So, after a week on vacation and pouring over the threads and compiling my thoughts, here's where we are:

 

In the beginning I decided I wanted a Twin-Cities campaign and settled on Philadelphia and Camden (NJ) for the setting. I wanted a Metropolis and a Gotham City. I wanted to wipe Philadelphia off the map and give myself a place to build my supercity. Many of my very good friends gleefully set about obliterating Philadelphia in City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia. The resulting compilation lead to some of the best World Building I have ever written (though not my best editing -- forgive typos until I clean it up) in Sigma - Cataclysm: It's the End of the World as we know it.

 

Then I started this thread in hopes of getting good input (and I did) on building Arcadia. After review. I love where we ended it, but I want you all to poke holes in my conclusions so I can move on to Camden and then we have "Sigma - Arcadia and The Cam: A Tale of Two Cities"

 

Note: This is a home-grown campaign world that is not set in the Official Champions Universe. I may borrow from it, but it will stand alone

 

And here's what we concluded in this thread and elements that "clicked" with me:

• The Players - Someone has to rebuild the city
  
  • Government - Once the Feds investigated the area (2003), an interim mayor was appointed to oversee rebuilding and to work as a liaison between the various investors. His name is Joe Cooper, an honest businessman that was out of town on the day of the event and lost what remained of his assets in the corruption of the Cam.
    
    
  • Business - Agribusiness, NASA, Geobusiness, and Biotech firms set the groundwork from the business sector.
    
    
  • Science - Arcadia Institute of Technology is the root of the science community. With only a 7.32 mile diameter area to work in, the school (and most buildings) will have to grow up instead of out to accommodate the interest in the area. Consolidating research facilities will be a requirement by zoning to prevent things getting out of hand.
    
    
  • Foreign Investments - After my trip to Disney I concluded that small cultural districts from countries that want a presence is a good idea, but since we are rebuilding a city in a way that has never been done before, zoning laws and investment bids will require cultural investments in the infrastructure. This way you get a China Town, and a German Town, and a Little Olympus (with heroes that fit the ethnicity). It brings the themes to the city so I can do "Big Trouble in Little China": if I want to.
    
    
  • The Villain - "Mercy and Justice" who resent that Dr. Lasombre was 'let off the hook' when he saved the Historic District. Kagaseo the Japanese Underworld boss (who is not really Japanese) and is rival to the boss of the Cam, Dr. Ares. I need another major player here -- maybe along the Lex Luthor line.
    
    
  • The Illuminati - Historic Philly has a Ghost and it is not Emile Lasombre, it is "The Spirit of America". I am thinking of a figure with a shroud made from the American flag who has a suppression field on (Large AoE) to reduce meta battles in the Historic district.
    
    

• Infrastucture - A central park that is the envy or the world, two universities. Zoning will prevent the usual methods of mining, but the greedy will want to find a way to get at the unearthly metals beneath the soil. How does Arcadia have so many amazing super skyscrapers and build so strong and flexible? Arcadianite. Hospitals will be very well equipped, and likely have very strong research ties. They may have quarantine sections for dealing with exposure to new releases of mutagentic gasses, or other oddities. Or perhaps a small hospital/research institute dedicated specifically to that.
  
  • Transportation - Again, Disney inspired me. Maglev monorails winding through the city at high elevation with stops inside major buildings. People movers.
    
    
  • Education - The New University of Pennsylvania and the Arcadia Intitute of Technology
    
    
  • Communications - Wireless communications for everyone. Like Phnom Penh (Cambodia), the entire city is a wireless hub.
    
    
  • Public Service - Emergency response vehicles would also be state of the art and people from all over the country would get transported there for exceptional medical cases. The Police use High-Tech Dirigibles because everyone likes them
    
    

• Unaswered Questions - Everything Else
  
  • Philadelphia - What became of the old city and the citizens? I'm thinking that this is a question answered as an adventure. The heroes travel to Other-Space and find Philadelphia and mutated survivors. I'm thinking that after 12 years that they would be like Marvel's Inhumans. Then we need to decide if it's safe to bring home the survivors.
    
    
  • Sophia Lasombre -Brilliant metahuman daughter who is the city's "first daughter'. She's snarky, a little bitter about being everyone's kid sister, and sits on every major board in the city. She's kind of busy. She also may be dating one of the major villains without knowing they are a villain.
    
    
  • Ghosts of the Past - We're ripping off "Project: Sunburst". We have a few Rip Van Winkles waiting to wake up and go metahuman.
    
    

 

Another thoughts:

From BoloOfEarth - "Completely outside the city: Couldn't you see someone building a particle accelerator in a remote location with the goal of replicating the Event? " I love this idea.

 

 

Ok. What are we missing?

[Enforcer84]

Re: City Builder - It takes a village to create Arcadia

 

I had a Powergirl style legacy character find out her "normal" boyfriend was the son of her father's arch nemesis, so I like the bit with Sophia. Does she share her dad's powers?

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Builder - It takes a village to create Arcadia

 

I had a Powergirl style legacy character find out her "normal" boyfriend was the son of her father's arch nemesis' date=' so I like the bit with Sophia. Does she share her dad's powers?[/quote']

 

I haven't decided, but I'm thinking either that or something involving elemental particles.