Why a fake city?

[pbemguy]

I have been toying with setting a campaign in a fictional city, but I'm not sure why. Up until now, I've always used real cities. But when you look at DC, they have Metropolis, Gotham, et al.

 

My question is: Why use a fictional city? (Marvel always uses real cities, and it seems to work fine.)

 

Follow up: what's the advantage to using a fictional city campaign sourcebook over real-world real city info?

[Hyper-Man]

It let's them fudge distances between the cities.  At one point in DC there was Metropolis AND New York City.  The Teen Titans were based in the later.

[tkdguy]

You can also add, change, or remove elements from a fake city. You can do it with a real city, of course, but it may strain the suspension of disbelief if your group is familiar with that city.

[Scott Baker]

And no one can say, "but that's not how it is in <insert name of real city here>!" Imperious City is whatever I say it is. New York, people have preconceptions about.

 

 

Edit: fix typo

Edited June 24, 2014 by Scott Baker

[Zeropoint]

An important benefit to creating a fictional city is that it can be thematically adjusted for the stories you want to set there. Metropolis and Gotham are great examples of that--they're both fictionalized versions of New York City, but with different aspects emphasized to better fit their respective superheroes.

[Greywind]

Not to mention that Darren blew up Detroit to make room for Millennium City.

[Nothere]

Of  course in game terms there is a rather serious difference. I use fictional cities, and I have a lot of details, but I find writing a 98 page book of them all for each player a bit daunting. So I always start with the bare minimum. This however leads to the problem of people having limited info to make charecters., They can't decide to incorporate the people at the Blue Diamond night club into the stories if they don't even know there is a Blue Diamond. Real cities have the advantage of someone else having written it all down for you. Of course you don't really save as much time because your having to research and print out maps and deciding which details to change and which to change. Sure in a couple of minutes you can look up everything you want to know about the Empire State building. But then you have to decide if your going to keep it as is, make it have a Demon base, or be a secret alien construct that's been sending a signal to the alien invasion fleet since it's construction.

[Hermit]

I have been toying with setting a campaign in a fictional city, but I'm not sure why. Up until now, I've always used real cities. But when you look at DC, they have Metropolis, Gotham, et al.

 

My question is: Why use a fictional city? (Marvel always uses real cities, and it seems to work fine.)

 

Follow up: what's the advantage to using a fictional city campaign sourcebook over real-world real city info?

Mmm, one of my problems with Marvel is 90% of their superheroes live in NYC and Marvel acts like New York City is the only city that matters half the time. Sure, DC uses fictional cities, but at least there's a feeling of a more even spread.

 

However, in answer to the questions... Fictional Cities are easier to place where you like. They're easier to personalize to your game and your PCs' needs. If you like something from a 'real city' it's easy to adapt it without much loss. Sourcebooks vary, but they often come with plot seeds already, and since they are superhero focused, you have less work to do on the 'what villains live here' side of things.

[Greywind]

Marvel worked on the premise of "the world outside the window". Marvel's windows happen to look out on New York.

[Lucius]

 

I highly recommend the fictional city San Angelo. It may be still available in the Hero Store.

 

One advantage of such a fictional city is that real cities don't have superheroes and supervillains. A packaged fictional setting like San Angelo presents a city in which the comic book tropes have already been incorporated into the history, the society, into the fabric of the city so to speak.

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

But there are more palindromedaries than you would expect in Salt Lake City and in Liverpool

[L. Marcus]

And Bolton.

[Epiphanis]

Marvel has some interesting quirks involving it's version of NYC. When Daredevil was created his home neighborhood, "He'll ' s Kitchen," was a slum worthy of its name. But it gentrified twenty years ago and is now called "Clinton," containing most of the theater district and lived in by trendy affluents. Ben Grimm ' s home "Yancy Street" doesn't exist, but the still highly Jewish "Delancey Street" does. Doc Strange would have been priced out of his Greenwich Village home years ago unless he has money magic, which he may well have.

[L. Marcus]

Perhaps Doc bought it when he was a practicing top-end surgeon?

[GhostDancer]

Another advantage for using a fictional city is for those GMs who have moved residences a lot.  In some of those cases, the players know much more about the local town the the GM does.

 

Of course, such does not preclude said GM from using a real town that is not local.  Ex: When I first moved to Detroit in 1986, I set our WestGuard Champions game in Honolulu, where I served two years with the Coast Guard.  Later, as I learned more about Detroit, I used Motown as a setting.

 

[bubba smith]

one advantage of a fictional city is that you can have a crooked mayor. police chief ect. without worrying about defaming a public official and getting suied

[Lord Liaden]

Not to mention that Darren blew up Detroit to make room for Millennium City.

 

When I see what's become of poor Detroit in recent years, I almost wish this had really happened. Almost.

[Hermit]

Marvel worked on the premise of "the world outside the window". Marvel's windows happen to look out on New York.

I know, but the logic of it eventually seems to break down and it really starts to feel crowded.

 Fortunately, the Great Lakes Avengers continue to protect Wisconsin last I heard

[Cassandra]

The advantage to using a fictional city is that the writer(s) have complete control over it.  They control the history, geography, politics, and it's future.  A real life city has certain characteristics that can't be changed without editorial explanation.

[Cassandra]

It let's them fudge distances between the cities.  At one point in DC there was Metropolis AND New York City.  The Teen Titans were based in the later.

 

According to the Atlas of the DC Universe website Metropolis is in Delaware, and Gotham City is in New Jersey.

[GhostDancer]

Nonetheless, Zeropoint is correct.  Originally, Metropolis and Gotham City were both versions of NYC.  Further, there was some demarcation- NoHo and SoHo?

[bluesguy]

When playing Champions I always use the city I am living in (or cities - since I am in the Twin Cities).  I do this because it makes it easy to describe a certain location or look up a location.  My players have had a fight in the Mall of America, local Science Museum, one of the big parks in town, University of Minnesota, the Governor's Fishing Opener, and the West End.  Their headquarters happens to be in a building right next to where my family and I go on Sat. mornings for a Sat. morning coffee jam.

 

If I want to twist things around it isn't a problem.  I just create 'fake' officials.  Also since I am running a Silver Age Style game (not time period but flavor/tone), corrupt city officials are few and far between.

[Roter Baron]

I have never done that. Germany does not lend itself to superhero campaigns - it is an American genre and like Western does not easily translate into other countries in my oppinion. So, almost all of my superhero campaigns were set in New York City - mainly because it was Marvel's playground and I always dreamed of going there for a holidays as a teenager (now I have been there four times and I am not as much a fan anymore - Why I went there four times? I have relatives in the vicinity).

 

Anyways, New York City basically does for me what fictional cities do for the others here who use them: I am quite knowledgable (for a foreigner who has been there a few days and who has read tourist guides etc. on the city) about the city, it is believable for my players because it is a real city BUT there is also a lot of blank space when and if I need it - because I don't have to erase stuff from my mind, I just ignore the real world and put it where I need it! And my players don't mind because they don't know any better.

 

I have a better knowledge of Pittsburgh but then I DO KNOW what is where and where is what and that would limit my creativity.

 

The only other city I have used so far as a supers setting was Hudson City - the best Gotham City that was ever invented! I even like it better than Batman's funpark. Great on crime!

 

Freedom City isn't bad either. For some reason I never fell in love with Millenium City - maybe because it has no harbor at the sea.

And for some reason I tend towards the Eastern seaboard, so San Angelo is to Californian for me.

 

Actually, coming to think of it, I have never set any kind of campaign in Germany - supers, crime-fighting, Cthulhu horror. Nothing. But there is a certain tradition in German fiction in that: The strange, the adventurous, the criminal, the exciting always happened abroad - first in England, then in the States. Some detective stories were set in Germany, but monster-hunters are British, agents are FBI or CIA and SF-heroes have names like Perry Rhodan and not Peter Röder. - In Germany oder rules and where Ordnung herrscht you can't have anything exciting.

 

I am a product of my culture ... even in gaming.

[SteelCold]

I never liked Millennium City neither. I've used Memphis, Tennessee (settle down y'all rednexs) as a campaign city but used the Hudson City and Vibora Bay books to flesh it out a bit.

 

For those who are sick of San Angelo, Emerald City in Washington State is a better bet.

[Steve]

If you want a West Coast city, I'll second the suggestion to use San Angelo.

 

I found Hero's Millennium City to have a nice "Metropolis" feel to it, and it worked well as the background when I used it in my Icons campaign a couple of years ago. Hudson City was great for a solo campaign I ran for a friend a number of years back, and it had a nice "Gotham City" vibe to it.

 

I never used Vibora Bay. I just couldn't get a good feel for it even after reading the sourcebook.

[assault]

Actually, coming to think of it, I have never set any kind of campaign in Germany - supers, crime-fighting, Cthulhu horror. Nothing. But there is a certain tradition in German fiction in that: The strange, the adventureous, the criminal, the exciting always happened abroad - first in England, then in the States. Some detective stories were set in Germany, but monster-hunters are British, agents are FBI or CIA and SF-heroes have names like Perry Rhodan and not Peter Röder. - In Germany oder rules and where Ordnung herrscht you can't have anything exciting.

 

Interesting. Personally, I'd consider that a challenge, not an obstacle.

 

There are similar effects in Australia, but I've never had a problem setting a Champions game here. (I haven't run a sustained Pulp game, or any non-superheroic "modern" game.)

 

There are plenty of European cop shows on Australian TV. Obviously you would get more of them in Germany. Most of the ones we get are Scandinavian, although Italy and even Austria get a look in.

 

According to the latter, Vienna has a murder rate exceeded only by certain fictional English villages.

 

Off the top of my head, Hamburg seems like a place where hijinks could ensue.

 

In terms of superheroes, of course, you have all of space and time to play around in. Even if the only notable thing about your campaign city is that it is the place where the heroes are based, they can still spend their time charging around the world, travelling in space and so on. And of course eventually the bad guys will show up on their doorstep.

 

Maybe I should write up my current hometown as a superhero setting....