[UA] Dueling Banjos

[holycrow at mindspring.com]

>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?

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...

-G.

Showing his small town and suburban bias.

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