[UA] Dueling Banjos

[Gareth Hanrahan]

> >Well, actually I have something to ask: post-modern magick seems to
>focus on
> >underground occult activities and so on. And apparently primarily in
>cities.
> >It always sounded strange to me that something underground would take
>place
> >just near where normal people live their life.

> RPGs have always focussed on cities.  (Except FRPGs, which always seem
focussed on unexplored ruins and wilderness.  Odd, that.)  I think there's
just an unspoken expectation that a contemporary paranormal game will be set
in a city -- probably a leftover from V:tM (if you're coming at it from the
mainstream) or OTE (if you're approaching from the lunatic fringe).  Do
y'all think there's a good reason for this?  Or should UA shift its focus
away from cities?

> Personally, I like the idea of the non-urban shift.  (1) It's different,
and all other things being equal, I think it's more fun to try something new
than try the same old thing.  (2) Most people in the world don't live in
cities -- right?  (IS that right?)  Certainly that's true historically.
Ergo, the Statosphere is probably more loaded with rural archetypes than
urban ones.  (Though, in all honesty, the Farmer is probably not going to be
a significant archetype for most games.)  (Someone want to prove me wrong?)
(3) Given that there's so much more to DO in a city, I'd think it would be
harder to develop an obsession on the occult.  But that's also debatable...

The thing is, cities tend to work better for actual gaming. If you've got X
million people within half an hour of each other, you can believable hide
all sorts of Occult Wierdoes amid the crowds. You can actually have an
underground community, an occult underground. Out in the countryside, people
are more spread out, and it's less likely the player characters will
actually bump into the other members of the OU.

Hmm. Urban-based games work better for political/alliance building games
where the PCs are part of the Occult Underground. Rural settings work better
for investigative/mission-based games where the PCs are part of some group
which is outside the normal flow of the OU (Sleepers/TNI). Discuss.

Also, most gamers live in cities. Most of the genre fiction and idea sources
are city-based. I certainly wouldn't like to see UA move completely away
from the city. The city looms larger than anything else on the zeitgeist (or
something. Christ, what the smeg am I babbling about?)

> -G.


Gar
http://www.irishgaming.com/warpcon
http://chrysanthemumRoad.tripod.com


_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua