A new city of supers!

[Lunatic Fringer]

Well, it has been a long time since I've done something like this, so I'm looking for some input from the community.  I have a bare bones concept for a campaign city and I'm looking for some interesting places, events and hooks to drop into it.

 

Here's what I have so far:

 

About 50 years ago, a powerful alien entity came to earth pursued by a team of galactic heroes.  The ensuing battle was joined as the superheroes of earth (along with many villains, too) teamed up with the extraterrestrial heroes to defeat the nearly-godlike monster from space.  The battle was won, but a major metropolitan city was destroyed in the process, and earth lost a substantial fraction of its heroes as well.  The city has since been rebuilt with a new name as virtually nothing of the old city remained.

 

Metronova has become home to over a million people during this time as the people who helped rebuild it became its new residents, joining what remained of the former population (saved by the actions of both heroes and common people who often paid with their own lives).  Unlike Millennium City, Metronova didn't become a gleaming technological utopian city of the future.  It is modern, yes, but a city that was rebuilt with profit in mind.  Several large corporations saw the city as a new place to re-image their reputations. Many other smaller companies sought to exploit the new ground. The government wants to keep investigating the incredible energies released here and the ways to harness them - as do masterminds and academics.  In short, it is a city ripe with possibilities for adventure, intrigue and opportunities.

 

Given that, could I get you to be some of my muses to inspire what I hope will be a great campaign city?  

 

LF

[grandmastergm]

I like the concept.  I'll have to see what comes to me as far as events, places, hooks, etc.

 

One question: are you running a more light-hearted or a darker game?  For instance, is the crime mostly thievery, taking over the world (without killing anyone), etc. or is murder, drugs, and death a part of the game?

[Hermit]

Okay, I love me some fictional city building. Definitely you need to decide which corporations have their footholds, and if fictional you need to make those corporations up. They'll probably have their names plastered all over the place.

 

For example, the football team could play at "Nar Cola Stadium"

[Major Tom 2009]

Here's an idea for you:

 

The Keep, Metronova Style: When the (as-yet unnamed) godlike alien fell in battle to the combined forces of both

the extraterrestial heroes that had pursued it and the heroes and villains of Earth that had joined forces with them,

it left more than physical damage behind in the aftermath of its defeat -- it also left an invisible and potentially dan-

gerous mark on the planet: an interdimensional nexus, a rift leading to other parallel worlds. While a few individuals

saw the nexus as a potential source of profit -- from the exploitation of other worlds' resources -- there were others

that saw it as a danger, since it could be used as a means of invasion by an enemy.

 

With that in mind, the city of Metronova funded the Citadel Project -- the construction of a huge fortress which would

be built around the nexus. Unlike normal fortresses, whose weapons faced outward to defend against an enemy, the

Citadel's weapons systems -- a mix of normal and high-tech systems -- faced inward, at the 100-meter-radius "kill

zone" surrounding the nexus. The Citadel was built with four fortifed and heavily-armed defensive rings around the

nexus; the idea was that, in the event of an attempted invasion via the nexus, that the innermost ring would hold the

enemy at bay while giving the rest of the facility time to bring its defenses and weapons online. In addition to the

personnel who normally live and work in the facility, the Citadel is also home to a battalion-size unit from the U.S. Army.

 

The final layer of defense for the Citadel is a superhero team known as Nexus Force. While the membership of the

team varies from time to time (a typical tour of duty for a Nexus Force member is six months), their task remains the

same: to provide support for both the facility's personnel and the Army unit in the event of an attack. To insure that

the team is the best that it can be, Metronova's city council regularly sends recruiters to other parts of the country

to locate potential recruits (this would be a good way to introduce a PC from a different campaign into the setting).

 

 

Major Tom 2009

[steriaca]

Another thought about the city is that aliens are accepted in the city, as many of the survivors got stranded on Earth as the result of the battle. (Remember, extertristiral law enforcement groups need the grunts as well as there paragon cop forces). Only about 4% of the city's population are alien, and out of those 4%, only about 1% are physical compatible to mate with humans.

 

That means there is an alien 'ghetto' in the city. Also, in this ghetto there is one special hospital to meet there needs: Saint Celestial Hospital For The Visiting Beings Of The Universe (usually called St. Celestial for short). While tech at this place is top notch, vary few of it is usable on humans without killing them.

[Lunatic Fringer]

I like the concept.  I'll have to see what comes to me as far as events, places, hooks, etc.

 

One question: are you running a more light-hearted or a darker game?  For instance, is the crime mostly thievery, taking over the world (without killing anyone), etc. or is murder, drugs, and death a part of the game?

 

Well, I typically run Bronze-Age superheroes, meaning there are shades of gray in the universe, including having the heroes fail occasionally (especially when they first are starting out).  Supercrime involves theft of particularly valuable objects, stuff a mastermind or evil genius can use to take over the world, a villain with a vendetta intended to humiliate the object of his/her ire, the occasional kidnapping where the victims are in peril but not overtly threatened with mortal harm, etc.  Of course, there's always room for collateral (property) damage and the odd bystander getting in trouble and needing to be rescued.  Oddly, I also like running bits where the heroes actually have to be heroes, and save people from man-made and natural disasters, too.

 

Does that help?  

 

LF

[Lunatic Fringer]

Okay, I love me some fictional city building. Definitely you need to decide which corporations have their footholds, and if fictional you need to make those corporations up. They'll probably have their names plastered all over the place.

 

For example, the football team could play at "Nar Cola Stadium"

 

Hmmm.  Okay, one of my favorites is Orb Corporation.  Orb originally was a ball bearing works before World War II and diversified into advanced technology after recruiting a number of scientists from the ranks of former Nazis, Soviet defectors and "reformed" criminal technicians to develop new products for government contracts.  Orb has since become a major pioneer of advanced technologies used by military forces around the world.  They're in Metronova now working on unlocking the secrets of the bits and pieces of alien technologies that have surfaced during the building of the city.

 

Mundo Verde is a Argentinian corporation that has come to prominence in the biotechnology field.  Their genetically modified crops and plants turned the desolate wastelands that remained around the former city into productive farmland and ground cover to stop erosion when no other terrestrial plants would grow.  Rumors are that they have gained access to alien spores and DNA samples of the heroic aliens who battled there and are working on bizarre biological experiments in secret labs nearby, but hey, there's crackpots saying we didn't land on the moon, either...

 

Na'i Urja is based in Mumbai, but has been producing advanced energy production systems around the world for a few decades now.  It's "next generation" of fission reactors are significantly reducing the amount of radioactive waste produced while increasing the amount of energy that can be extracted from uranium fuel rods.  They are also developing fusion power that promises clean and safe energy to power the entire world.

 

Vektor is a Russian corporation that is the primary contractor for NASA's first generation of interplanetary spacecraft as well as military and civilian aircraft.  With advanced ion propulsion systems and the promise of reactionless thrust systems to follow, the future is looking very bright for mankind to be joining the interstellar federation that's out there.  Of course, there are rumors they are hurrying along on FTL research thanks to some alien technology they "found" after the disaster...

 

Any other suggestions will be welcome!

 

LF

[Lunatic Fringer]

Here's an idea for you:

 

The Keep, Metronova Style: When the (as-yet unnamed) godlike alien fell in battle to the combined forces of both

the extraterrestial heroes that had pursued it and the heroes and villains of Earth that had joined forces with them,

it left more than physical damage behind in the aftermath of its defeat -- it also left an invisible and potentially dan-

gerous mark on the planet: an interdimensional nexus, a rift leading to other parallel worlds...

 

Major Tom 2009

 

Okay, that's intriguing enough to include in the wider universe, but I don't think it is something I want in Metronova itself.  However, I do like the idea of a relic of the final battle remaining within the new city.

 

I think I would like a crystalline spire that still glows and pulses from the residual energy of the monster, say a hundred feet tall?  It forms a memorial to the heroes and innocent people who lost their lives when the monster was destroyed.  Perhaps it rises from a reflecting pool or small lake in a memorial park in the center of the city.  Roughly conical with a somewhat disturbingly organic appearance, people who look upon it for a while swear they can still see the faces of the heroes and victims in the play of light and shadow within the spire.  

 

This is why I need muses.  I just thrash in a vacuum.  

 

LF

[Lunatic Fringer]

Another thought about the city is that aliens are accepted in the city, as many of the survivors got stranded on Earth as the result of the battle. (Remember, extertristiral law enforcement groups need the grunts as well as there paragon cop forces). Only about 4% of the city's population are alien, and out of those 4%, only about 1% are physical compatible to mate with humans.

 

That means there is an alien 'ghetto' in the city. Also, in this ghetto there is one special hospital to meet there needs: Saint Celestial Hospital For The Visiting Beings Of The Universe (usually called St. Celestial for short). While tech at this place is top notch, vary few of it is usable on humans without killing them.

 

I'm digging this idea a lot!    By the way, in the city of a million residents, 4% still comes out to 40,000, you know.  Maybe not that many, but the "ghetto" and St. Celestial is definitely on my list.  Thanks!

 

LF

[Major Tom 2009]

Okay, that's intriguing enough to include in the wider universe, but I don't think it is something I want in Metronova itself.  However, I do like the idea of a relic of the final battle remaining within the new city.

 

I think I would like a crystalline spire that still glows and pulses from the residual energy of the monster, say a hundred feet tall?  It forms a memorial to the heroes and innocent people who lost their lives when the monster was destroyed.  Perhaps it rises from a reflecting pool or small lake in a memorial park in the center of the city.  Roughly conical with a somewhat disturbingly organic appearance, people who look upon it for a while swear they can still see the faces of the heroes and victims in the play of light and shadow within the spire.  

 

This is why I need muses.  I just thrash in a vacuum.  

 

LF

 

OK, I can see why you wouldn't want something like that within the limits of the rebuilt city. But what if, instead of it being

built within the new city itself, it was built in the general area of the old city (I'm thinking that, with the kind of collateral

damage caused by super-fights -- the Spider-Man vs. Firelord fight comes to mind -- that the damage caused by a fight

with an entity of the sort you're describing would wreck the support infrastructures beyond any possibiity of repair, so

you'd probably want to build a new city on an entirely different location. The remnants of the old city could become a

memorial of the sort you mentioned)?

 

 

Major Tom 2009

[Lunatic Fringer]

OK, I can see why you wouldn't want something like that within the limits of the rebuilt city. But what if, instead of it being

built within the new city itself, it was built in the general area of the old city (I'm thinking that, with the kind of collateral

damage caused by super-fights -- the Spider-Man vs. Firelord fight comes to mind -- that the damage caused by a fight

with an entity of the sort you're describing would wreck the support infrastructures beyond any possibiity of repair, so

you'd probably want to build a new city on an entirely different location. The remnants of the old city could become a

memorial of the sort you mentioned)?

 

 

Major Tom 2009

 

The way I'm envisioning it, during the final fight with the monster, a matter-manipulating hero got close to the wounded creature and converted part of his mass into antimatter to destroy it.  That blast along with the energies of the creature unleashed, caused everything within a quarter mile of the creature to simply cease to exist while the blast wave that followed leveled everything for miles in every direction.  The rift you're talking about could have resulted from a failed attempt earlier in the fight to remove the creature from this plane of existence by a mystic master.  That place is now a military/government facility where studies into extra-dimensional travel are now being conducted.  Of course, the rift works both ways, requiring the defenses of which you mentioned previously.  

 

LF

[freakboy6117]

If the rift is navigable then I bet there is a thriving industry in smuggled items coming back with recon teams. Just think of the value of something as mundane as a CD or iPod in a universe where Elvis didn't die or the Beatles reformed. How about a DVD from a universe where Adam west was James bond or Orson wells lost masterpiece still exists not to mention patents or novel bits of consumer tech.

 

The Russian sci-fi classic roadside picnic aka stalker is probably a go to on what living on a site that's 2 parts disaster area 3 parts scientific marvel.

[薔薇語]

Here is an idea: Don't place it in the US or any other developed nation. There are a lot of interesting story lines you can develop when you make this new city a new administrated territory of the US or other international body. 

The Aliens come to Earth. Their fight, rather than taking place over Detroit like Millennium city, takes place over a large area of Haiti. The ensuing fight leaves the already devestated locale even worse for wear. Countless Super Heroes and nations worked together to defeat this threat over Haiti. Now that the threat has abated, there was an issue over who should have sovereignty over the area and all that was left in the wake of the fight (Central Spire, The Nexus Convergence, etc). The local government didn't have the resources or knowhow to manage their nation before this crisis, in the wake of it there was no hope. So the UN largely agreed to unilaterally disincorporate a large swath of the Hatian territories and re-establish them as a quasi independent nation. The Chief administrator was selected by the UN and several treaties were written up to establish this locale as both being independent from all other nations while technically operating under the authority of the US and paying taxes to the Hatian government. 

 

Intrigued by all that was going on there, corporations, people, Heroes, and all kinds of other individuals and groups relocated to the new city. The neighboring populations made up the bulk of the work force initially and still do to some degree. But there are tons of tensions as there are strong cultural clashes as the city is truly an international one. And this was exacerbated as the initial anticipated interest in the area was underestimated. The idea that millions of people would move there almost over night for work and opportunity left the UN struggling to plan appropriately. 

A benefit to this kind of background is that it allows more political intrigue as no 1 nation has full authority over the new city-state. The HEROes could come from all around the world. Indeed, some might even have official state backing (Perhaps the Nexus Core has six month rotations and four man squads because every member state must choose a representative to serve for a set term, etc). 

 

La Rose. 

[steriaca]

Police: The Metronova Police Department are one of the best equiped police departments in the world. Most of the department still relies upon standard technology, their is a special equipment force to deal with supercrime. Most of the department's special equipment and weaponry are 'sponsored' by various companys, as no police department can really afford a hi level armor suit.

[steriaca]

Crime: The city is plauged with a group of organised criminals. Their is Grochet Gaz in the alien sector, the mysterious Shadow Boss who is rumored to run all crime on the wharehouse district, The Subway Lord is rumored to run all crime under the city, and nobody knows the extreme length of Dargon's empire (or even if Dargon exists, as he seems to be a Kaiser Sore type). How developed they are is unknown. Gorchet Gaz supplys his alien gangs with hi-tech, but Shadow Boss tends to be a cross of The Mafia and The Triad, and perfer 'normal' firearms.

[Lunatic Fringer]

If the rift is navigable then I bet there is a thriving industry in smuggled items coming back with recon teams. Just think of the value of something as mundane as a CD or iPod in a universe where Elvis didn't die or the Beatles reformed. How about a DVD from a universe where Adam west was James bond or Orson wells lost masterpiece still exists not to mention patents or novel bits of consumer tech.

 

The Russian sci-fi classic roadside picnic aka stalker is probably a go to on what living on a site that's 2 parts disaster area 3 parts scientific marvel.

 

Um... no.  My thought on the rift is that whatever or whoever gets too close disappears.  That fact doesn't stop scientists (and villainous masterminds) from continuing to investigate it and do research upon its energies.  Plus, something occasionally comes through...

 

LF

[Lunatic Fringer]

Here is an idea: Don't place it in the US or any other developed nation. There are a lot of interesting story lines you can develop when you make this new city a new administrated territory of the US or other international body. 

 

The Aliens come to Earth. Their fight, rather than taking place over Detroit like Millennium city, takes place over a large area of Haiti. The ensuing fight leaves the already devestated locale even worse for wear. Countless Super Heroes and nations worked together to defeat this threat over Haiti. Now that the threat has abated, there was an issue over who should have sovereignty over the area and all that was left in the wake of the fight (Central Spire, The Nexus Convergence, etc). The local government didn't have the resources or knowhow to manage their nation before this crisis, in the wake of it there was no hope. So the UN largely agreed to unilaterally disincorporate a large swath of the Hatian territories and re-establish them as a quasi independent nation. The Chief administrator was selected by the UN and several treaties were written up to establish this locale as both being independent from all other nations while technically operating under the authority of the US and paying taxes to the Hatian government. 

 

Intrigued by all that was going on there, corporations, people, Heroes, and all kinds of other individuals and groups relocated to the new city. The neighboring populations made up the bulk of the work force initially and still do to some degree. But there are tons of tensions as there are strong cultural clashes as the city is truly an international one. And this was exacerbated as the initial anticipated interest in the area was underestimated. The idea that millions of people would move there almost over night for work and opportunity left the UN struggling to plan appropriately. 

 

A benefit to this kind of background is that it allows more political intrigue as no 1 nation has full authority over the new city-state. The HEROes could come from all around the world. Indeed, some might even have official state backing (Perhaps the Nexus Core has six month rotations and four man squads because every member state must choose a representative to serve for a set term, etc). 

 

La Rose. 

 

An intriguing idea, I admit.  Any other candidates for a location besides Haiti/Dominican Republic?

 

LF

[Lunatic Fringer]

Police: The Metronova Police Department are one of the best equiped police departments in the world. Most of the department still relies upon standard technology, their is a special equipment force to deal with supercrime. Most of the department's special equipment and weaponry are 'sponsored' by various companys, as no police department can really afford a hi level armor suit.

 

Actually, I'm thinking that the police force is fairly conventional.  Super crime is handled by super heroes, is the mindset.  However, if things get out of hand, the military forces stationed around the rift can be called in...

 

LF

[Lunatic Fringer]

Crime: The city is plauged with a group of organised criminals. Their is Grochet Gaz in the alien sector, the mysterious Shadow Boss who is rumored to run all crime on the wharehouse district, The Subway Lord is rumored to run all crime under the city, and nobody knows the extreme length of Dargon's empire (or even if Dargon exists, as he seems to be a Kaiser Sore type). How developed they are is unknown. Gorchet Gaz supplys his alien gangs with hi-tech, but Shadow Boss tends to be a cross of The Mafia and The Triad, and perfer 'normal' firearms.

 

I honestly will have to think about this aspect.  It will depend on the power level of the heroes (which will depend on the number of players) as to whether they deal with normal crime, or whether organized crime gets elevated to super-power levels...

[steriaca]

Re: Police.

.

If your police are conventualy armed, that doesn't mean you cannot use hi-tech for para-military, quasi-police forces. Some megacorporations employ their own 'security' forces.

[薔薇語]

For other cities one could reasonably choose any sufficient area from a developing nation. That opens up a lot of Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia. Indeed, there could be several cities across the Globe. Maybe the Heroes are part of the US station forces that do one year rotations to each local? Maybe they are the all year heroes and sometimes come into conflict with the transitional forces because they think their official state sanction puts them above others.

 

La Rose.

[Lunatic Fringer]

For other cities one could reasonably choose any sufficient area from a developing nation. That opens up a lot of Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia. Indeed, there could be several cities across the Globe. Maybe the Heroes are part of the US station forces that do one year rotations to each local? Maybe they are the all year heroes and sometimes come into conflict with the transitional forces because they think their official state sanction puts them above others.

 

La Rose.

 

Well, my original idea was that Metronova would replace a city in the central portion of the USA, such as San Antonio, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Omaha or Little Rock.  I'm liking the international aspect enough to think that Metronova its surrounds might actually be considered an international territory with a number of nations maintaining missions there and the members with veto powers providing troops and law enforcement under the UN banner.  That would allow the city to become a simmering pot of intrigue with corporate and government operatives (along with various supervillains) to exist unofficially...

 

LF

[assault]

The obvious thing with internationalising territory is what do the locals think about it?

 

Just think what would happen if part of the US, say, was put under "international" control.

 

There are precedents for *temporary* "international" control in extreme cases - East Timor and the Solomon Islands come to mind - but the key is temporary. Permanently alienating territory is a recipe for instability.

[Lunatic Fringer]

The obvious thing with internationalising territory is what do the locals think about it?

 

Just think what would happen if part of the US, say, was put under "international" control.

 

There are precedents for *temporary* "international" control in extreme cases - East Timor and the Solomon Islands come to mind - but the key is temporary. Permanently alienating territory is a recipe for instability.

 

Technically, the United Nations Headquarters in New York City is international territory, but I do see where you're coming from.  However, what if the benefits of being under international protection outweighed the sovereignty issue?  All the international business coming in, an improved standard of living, better security than before - a few places in the world we live in might welcome such an arrangement right now.

 

And, perhaps it is a temporary arrangement but on a long term schedule, say... fifty years?  >

 

LF

[assault]

Technically, the United Nations Headquarters in New York City is international territory, but I do see where you're coming from.  However, what if the benefits of being under international protection outweighed the sovereignty issue?  All the international business coming in, an improved standard of living, better security than before - a few places in the world we live in might welcome such an arrangement right now.

 

And, perhaps it is a temporary arrangement but on a long term schedule, say... fifty years?  >

 

LF

 

I thought about the UN Headquarters case, but knew that everyone would know what I meant.

 

The benefits - well, the real world record isn't that marvelous. That isn't a factor in a superpowered world.

 

There are/were real world cases of enclaves being separated from from their parent countries on a long term basis. Historically arrangements of this kind were usually established unilaterally, or with one side under duress. Examples include: Guantanamo Bay, Hong Kong, Macau, the Panama Canal Zone... These can be long term and fairly stable arrangements.

 

Most of these were established during periods when overt colonialism was acceptable. Doing it these days would require some fancy political footwork.

 

The main question is: could the UN do it? While it has administered territories on a short term basis, doing so on a longer term one would be a stretch. It could, I suppose.

 

Suspension of disbelief shouldn't be a problem in a superheroic setting.