Summer in the CITY

I'm not doing the RPGaDay Challenge this year but I do have a project of my own making I'd like to work on for August. I'd like to celebrate my 48th Anniversary in the TRPG Hobby by showing my love for Cities in RPGs.

That's right, Cities. I'm really into Cities.

The image above is from the recently released Japanese Anime series 'CITY-The Animation', based on the Manga of the same name. Written and illustrated by Keniichi Arawi, the show follows the humorous, not-so-normal, sometimes downright surreal, slice-of-life escapades of a group of quirky characters living in a fictional city in Japan.

 

I am really enjoying the series as its definitely my kind of thing. Simultaneously, it got me thinking about how much I lenjoy my life in New York City. I am a City boy at heart. The urban sprawl of a modern metropolis is in my blood.

More than the dank dungeons of Fantasy or the wilds of an alien planet in Science Fiction (though I do love those as well), I really like developing the Cities that the Player Characters visit before or after their excursions into the unknown.

I am even more jazzed when they decide to set up a home and/or headquarters in a City and we - the Players and I - get to further explore the setting as resource of both safe haven and potential adventure. 

Remember my affection for Player Character Bases? Well this is an extension of that. 

City based adventures are some of my favorites. This is why genres or games that focus on a City as the primary locale are ones I find particularly intriguing. Just as the Starship a group of PCs own and/or operate is a character in itself in a Space Adventure Game, a city is a personality all its own in campaigns centered in and around one.

Think of Superheroes, where the majority of your scenarios take place in a City like Gotham, Metropolis, Mutants & Masterminds' Freedom City, or my buddy Will's version of New York [in Champions].

Your Ghostbusters franchise can be set in your own hometown or, as is the case in the Solo TRPG outing I'm currently running, it could be placed in a made-up place such as a fictional coastal city in Japan.

In Traveller we sometimes set up a semi-permanent base in a planetary spaceport or on an orbital space station that functions very much like a City.

I don't want to leave out Fantasy either! My many campaigns of The Winghorn Guard on my homebrewed world of Aerth have each group of Guardsmen attached to a Division based in one of several Cities across the realms. Ars Magica often sees the PC Mages' Covenants placed none-to-far from a town or city that they regularly visist (or which regularly visits them).

The possibilities are virtually limitless! 

So far I am planning to showcase Cities I've created for games such as:

Maybe more! We'll see how much time I have.

Bare in mind, these will be in addition to any other RPG recaps, reviews, or thoughts that might pop up. I am hoping my current creative mood translates to posting a bit more (famous last words?). 

Wish me luck and see you around the City!

AD

Barking Alien