[UA] City Swop

[Greg Stolze]

on 2/16/01 9:30 AM, Dylan Craig at wytchfynder at hotmail.com wrote:

> Ville wrote:
> 
>> I'm intending to run a campaign set in Los Angeles. Never thought I would do
> it, being such an obvious choice for a > non-American, but 'ere I go, and
> actually I'm quite pleased I did it.
> 
> Something that comes to mind: I'm not sure what the geographical dispersal of
> list members here is, but it has often crossed my mind that given the spread
> of
> nationalities I've seen so far, what we have access to is a powerful resource
> for global UA gaming. If my group goes to the Wahrheitstempel, I'd far rather
> get another UA gamer's spin on Berlin than grab tourist info off the Net;
> simultaneously, I think I could provide better info on Johannesburg (I see the
> TOSG is supposed to have a foothold up there <grin>) from an occult horror POV
> than, say, Fodors or Let's Go!
> 
> This being said, I'd be happy to supervise and host the results of a "city
> swop"
> on my personal site; what I am envisaging is a few paragraphs per city,
> interesting UA-appropriate themes and locations (like the LA diner mentioned
> by
> Ryan), and a few URLs for more "touristy"/conventional info. Personally, I'd
> like to see info on Berlin, Atlantic City, and Paris; I'm sure everyone has
> three or four cities they'd like to use.
> 
> Any takers?
> 
> --
> "I only smile in the dark / My only comfort is the night gone black"
> Dylan Craig : Writer and Observer : Cape Town, South Africa
> Contact Details: http://www.eyeballkid.co.za/contact.html
> 
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> UA at lists.uchicago.edu
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There's been noise before about doing a city site for UA, and I'd love to
see it happen.  In fact, I'll sweeten the pot: I've got a longish short
story about the OU of NYC, and I'll let y'all post it if this thing starts
to work.  

That said, I'd like to insert a caution: There's a tendency for individual
writers to make their backyard the center of the occult universe.  (Gee,
isn't Abel located in Seattle, Tynes' stomping ground?  And don't the Freak
and the NG cult both rattle around near Chicago, my region?  Funny how that
works...)  Justin Achilli put his thumb on this when he commented "Yeah, we
have to include LARP stats for Sascha Vykos for those times that the most
powerful member of the Sabbat decides to visit a meeting of fifteen Kindred
in Beerchug, Texas."

So I'd just like to encourage people to take it really, really easy on the
numbers and power of the adepts in a given area.  Look at the Council in
"Hush Hush."  These guys are the Bad Motherfuckers(tm) of the Occult
Underground, along with the Bad Man (in PoMo) and Eponymous from the main
book.  Those guys should be your ceiling: If a character is more powerful or
awe-inspiring than those folks, the chances of getting let into the canon
officially are very slim.

How can one get around this?  There's several ways.

1) Narrow powers.  If you have this brilliant idea that requires massive
power, make sure that that's ALL the individual/location/artifact does.

2) Limited interaction.  Powerful adepts are obsessive by nature.  Their
priorities just ain't right.  There are presumably some just wicked powerful
sorcerers out there who don't use their powers much because, shit, they've
got what they want -- knowledge, wisdom, understanding, whatever.  They're
not brainwashing the city 'cause, hey, what would they do with a CITY?
They're not involved with OU politics 'cause they don't give a shit --
unless you cross 'em.

3) Other limitations.  Right now I'm writing up one of the legendary Legion
of Doom -- Abel's all-star adept asskickers.  She's friggin' NASTY.  Given
the right circumstances, she can kack just about everyone.  But the right
circumstances are pretty narrow, and the price she's paid for her deadliness
is that she's near death herself.

I'm worried that I'm sounding pedantic here, but with UA you really have to
ask "Why hasn't everyone heard about this guy?"  If you don't have a good
answer, the character is too powerful.

Should we figure out a "OU/Regular Population" ratio?  It would be nothing
more than a rough guide, of course -- NYC is way on the low side of the
scale, Louisiana is probably pretty high -- but it might provide some ground
rules to keep people from explaining that Davenport Iowa is overrun with
sorcerers...

-G.
-- 
Hannibal is a character that my old writing teacher would have called
"loved by it's author." He is so empowered by the person crafting him
that he's granted near god-like abilities, and gets stripped the
qualities we apply to actual human characters. These creations become more
of a device than a personality and generally turn out not nearly as
interesting as the author believes.



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