[UA] Dueling Banjos

[Stuart Anderson]

holycrow at mindspring.com wrote:

> >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.
>
> I love the spirit of this statement, and I think "One Shots" played a lot more around the idea something as marginal as occult obsession tends to operate at... well... the margins.
>
> 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?

I never made the urban assumption. I guess since I personally find rural areas more affecting (more relaxing, creepier, whatever--just more) than cities, and have lived in a few truly southern gothic hamlets, and find the suburbs surreal no matter how you cut them, my paranormal campaigns gravitate toward the country. I've never thought to question that. My more successful WoD campaigns took place in the southwest. (I submitted a proposal for Badlands by Night, but they didn't dig it much) My most successful In Nomine campaign did, too. I love New Orleans and use it frequently, but honestly, the characters spend more time in the bayous than in town. Games are about
verisimilitude, and I think I'm more convincing as I portray rural areas, so the players enjoy exploring those areas with me. I don't know. It's an excellent question. My campaigns will probably stay fairly rural regardless of the focus of the game. I'm pretty perverse that way.
--Stu


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